MEMORIALS 



OF THE 



Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D. 

FOR TWENTY-SIX YEARS PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH OF RYE, NEW YORK 



WITH 



A FEW SELECTED SERMONS AND SACRED POEMS 



NEW YORK AND LONDON 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
limcherbotker |jttS8 
1888 



Press of 
P. Putnam's Sons 
New York 



o 6 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 031470 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The wish has been widely expressed by those who hold 
the noble Christian life of the late Rev. Dr. Charles W. 
Baird, of Rye, in grateful and affectionate remembrance, 
that the accounts of the last exercises in his honor might 
be gathered and placed in a permanent form. 

It has been urged that many of his parishioners and 
personal friends would esteem it a privilege to possess 
the record of the tender words spoken in the church, 
the very appreciative delineations of his character and 
work as pastor, preacher, and historian, given later at the 
memorial services, and some, at least, of the tributes 
rendered in the public press to his useful and honored 
course. 

In response to such appeals this little volume is 
printed. To gratify those who may be less fully ac- 
quainted with the incidents of the life of Dr. Baird, a 
brief biographical sketch is prefixed, written by his 
brother, Professor Henry M. Baird, of the University of 

iii 



i V PRE FA TOR Y NO TE. 

the City of New York. The nature of the addresses, 
and the different occasions on which they were deliv- 
ered, will account for a certain number of unavoidable 
repetitions of statement. Some of these it has been 
deemed difficult or undesirable to remove. In many 
cases, however, passages have been left out, whose 
omission is, for the most part, indicated by the use of 
periods 

Such a memorial as this would have been manifestly 
incomplete had it contained nothing from the pen of 
him to whom it principally refers. Ten of Dr. Baird's 
sermons are therefore inserted, together with a few 
sacred poems, as constituting a fitting conclusion of the 
book. The choice from among so many discourses 
which seemed entitled to a place has been by no means 
an easy one, and has been influenced somewhat by pref- 
erences expressed. Those which have been finally 
chosen for publication are now given, with the fervent 
hope and prayer that the blessing of God may accom- 
pany them to the conversion and edification of those 
who read. Thus will the highest purpose be fulfilled of 
the beloved dead, who, through his long and faithful 
pastorate, felt that he had no other commission than to 
preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

M. E. B. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Biographical Sketch i 

Funeral Services and Addresses 13 

Dr. Hitchcock's Address 13 

Rev. Horace G. Hinsdale's Address 16 

Dr. Phraner's Address 23 

Remarks by the Rev. John Reid . . . . .26 

Memorial Service and Addresses 31 

Address of J. Aspinwall Hodge, D.D. . . . .31 

Address of Rev. John Reid 41 

Remarks of Rev. R. H. P. Vail, D.D. . . . .50 

Memorial Sermon 52 

Tributes 61 

Sermons -77 

I. — The Yoke and the Cross 79 

II. — Go and See 92 

III. — The Coat Without Seam 106 

IV. — Obedience to Christ 123 

V. — Blessed are the Meek 139 

VI. — The God of all Comfort 153 

VII. — The Mind of Christ 166 

VIII. — Jerusalem Remembered 179 

IX.— The Conquest of Canaan 193 

X. — Trust in the Lord 208 

Lays of the Cross . . ......... 219 

I. — The Dream of Pilate's Wife 221 

II. — Behold Your King 223 

III. — Simon of Cyrene 225 

IV. — The People at the Cross 227 

V. — The Soldiers at the Cross 229 

VI. — The Women at the Cross 231 

VII. — Bearing the Cross . . . . . . . 233 

" Domine, Quo Vadis ? " 233 

V 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Charles Washington Baird, the second son of Rob- 
ert and Fermine Du Buisson Baird, was born in Princeton, 
N. J., on the 28th of August, 1828. His father was a 
clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, widely known 
and greatly beloved both in Europe and in America be- 
cause of his untiring and self-sacrificing labors in con- 
nection with many important religious and philanthropic 
enterprises. His mother, who was of French Huguenot 
extraction, was a woman in whom deep and unaffected 
piety was combined with great refinement and singular 
sweetness and force of character. 

Until his seventh year his parents resided in this 
country, first in Princeton and afterwards in Philadel- 
phia. In 1835 Rev. Dr. Robert Baird accepted a com- 
mission to visit Europe in the interest of the effort then 
for the first time made by American Protestants, to 
evangelize the Roman Catholic countries of the conti- 
nent, and the greater part of the next eight or nine years 



2 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

was spent by his family in France and Switzerland. For 
six years their home was in Paris, and for two years in 
Geneva. This long sojourn in foreign lands was not 
without a very distinct effect in influencing the intellec- 
tual development of the young Charles Baird. Not only 
did it tend to broaden his general culture, but it enabled 
him in particular to master several of the languages of 
modern Europe, and to lay the foundation of an ac- 
quaintance with the history and literatures of France, 
Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, which at a later date 
proved of great utility, being indeed an indispensable 
condition of much of the original literary research in 
which he subsequently engaged. 

It was during his stay in Europe that he was called to 
pass through the severe discipline of suffering. An at- 
tack of inflammatory rheumatism, incurred in the spring 
of 1 841, brought on an affection of the heart so rapid and 
violent in its character as for a time to threaten his life. 
For many months his health continued to be very pre- 
carious ; nor indeed did he ever recover the vigor of con- 
stitution he had previously enjoyed. 

No doubt this experience was blessed of God to bring 
him to a fuller realization of his spiritual needs. From 
his earliest years he had exhibited great sensitiveness of 
conscience, together with deep reverence for the Holy 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 3 

Scriptures and their teachings. Now he came to a dis- 
tinct apprehension and acceptance of the Gospel plan of 
salvation, and embraced the Lord Jesus Christ with a 
faith that knew no doubt or wavering to the end of his 
life. His entire frame of mind became evidently spirit- 
ual. He began at once to seek opportunities for benefit- 
ing those around him; he instituted prayer- meetings 
among his young associates, and he strove by direct con- 
versation to induce them to accept the Saviour whom he 
had himself chosen to be the guide and master of his 
thoughts and actions. Shortly after his return to the 
United States he made a public profession of his faith in 
Christ, and united early in 1844 with the Sixth Street 
Presbyterian Church, New York City, then under the 
pastoral care of the Rev. Horace Eaton, D.D., subse- 
quently of Palmyra. 

The Gospel ministry was the life-work upon which his 
thoughts and aspirations centred. No other occupation 
seemed attractive to him. Yet for a time there was little 
prospect that his bodily health would permit him to 
carry out his cherished hope. For several years the 
close application and confinement of the school were out 
of the question. Meanwhile, however, his time was not 
misspent. Not only did his reading include a wide range 
of literature, but he employed his pen to good purpose, 



4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

assisting his father by translations of important treatises 
from the French language into the English, and exercising 
to some extent a poetical ability which he had inherited 
from his mother. Taking advantage of his improved 
health, he prepared privately for college, and in the 
year 1846 entered the junior class of the University of 
the City of New York. Under the instruction of such 
eminent men as Chancellor Theodore Frelinghuysen and 
Professors Taylor Lewis, E. A. Johnson, John W. Draper, 
Caleb S. Henry, and others, he enjoyed the highest ad- 
vantages this country then afforded, and the associations 
which he formed with his teachers and with his fellow- 
students were a theme to which he ever after recurred 
with manifest gratification. The character and services 
of Mr. Frelinghuysen in particular were reviewed by him 
with the appreciative affection of an attached pupil 
thirty-four years after graduation, in the oration which 
he delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society. On 
Commencement Day, in June, 1848, his part in the public 
exercises was the rendering of a poem of his own com- 
position on the theme of " Labor." 

In September, 1849, ^ e entered the Union Theological 
Seminary, New York. Here he pursued a full course of 
theological study, under Dr. Henry White, in Dogmatical 
Theology, Dr. Edward Robinson and Mr. Turner, in 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 5 

Biblical Exegesis, Dr. Henry B. Smith, in Church History, 
and Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, in Pastoral Theology and 
Homiletics. He graduated in the spring of 1852, and, 
after licensure by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, 
sailed for Europe in the month of September, to become 
chaplain of the American Chapel in the city of Rome, 
under the care of the American and Foreign Christian 
Union. Here his ministry extended over a period of 
two years. During his vacation in the summer of 1853, 
he returned for a few weeks to the United States, in 
order to receive ordination at the hands of the same 
presbytery by which he had been licensed to preach the 
Gospel. 

His labors among the American and English residents 
and visitors at Rome were eminently acceptable. The 
Hon. Mr. Cass had kindly selected for his residence apart- 
ments connected with which there was a large room or 
hall that could easily be adapted for a place of public 
divine worship. Thus the chapel was conveniently and 
centrally situated on the western side of the great square 
known as the Piazza del Popolo, and facing the Pincian 
hill. Here the only Protestant services in the English 
language within the walls of the city were held under the 
protection of the American flag. The families constitut- 
ing the American colony, and the visitors from the 



6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

United States, represented, as may be supposed, all 
shades of Protestant belief ; but so courteous and judi- 
cious, as well as faithful to principle, was Mr. Baird's 
course, that it conciliated and held all classes. So long 
as he remained, therefore, the American Chapel main- 
tained its ground and grew in numbers and in favor ; nor 
was there a whisper of a desire to establish for Amer- 
icans in Rome any other organization than that in which 
all evangelical Christians, of whatever name, could heart- 
ily unite for the worship of Almighty God, and for such 
limited exertions for the spiritual interests of the Italians 
as were possible under the intolerant government of Pius 
the Ninth. 

In 1854 Mr. Baird returned to the United States, with 
the expectation of being able at once to assume a pastoral 
charge in this country. For a time, however, this hope 
was deferred by a painful affection of the nerves of the 
eye, and he devoted the period of his enforced release 
from the regular duties of the pulpit in part to the prose- 
cution of studies bearing directly upon the worship of the 
sanctuary. In 1855 he published his volume entitled 
" Eutaxia ; or, The Presbyterian Liturgies : Historical 
Sketches by a Minister of the Presbyterian Church," and, 
in 1856, a second volume, "A Book of Public Prayer, 
Compiled from the Authorized Formularies of Worship of 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 7 

the Presbyterian Church, as Prepared by the Reformers 
Calvin, Knox, and Others." The two books taken to- 
gether became a standard authority in a branch of his- 
torical research altogether novel on this side of the ocean. 
Himself no friend or advocate of an enforced liturgy, Mr. 
Baird showed that the Presbyterian minister who desires 
to enrich his pulpit services with the best suggestions of 
past ages, and to free them from the appearance of irreg- 
ularity or disorder, need not go outside of the authorized 
formularies of his own church and the writings of its re- 
formers, to obtain all the legitimate help that he requires. 
With characteristic modesty, the author refrained from 
placing his name on the title-page of either volume. 

In 1859 Mr. Baird received and accepted a call to be- 
come pastor of a young enterprise, known as the Re- 
formed Dutch Church of Bergen Hill, in South Brooklyn, 
N. Y. Here he remained two years, greatly endearing 
himself to the people of his charge, until he was invited, 
in 1861, to occupy a larger and more laborious field of 
Christian activity. 

It was less than a month after the firing upon Fort 
Sumter, that having accepted the call of the Presbyterian 
Church of Rye, Westchester County, N. Y., he was sol- 
emnly installed as its pastor ; and here the last twenty- 
six years of his life — the years of his highest activity both 



8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

as a minister of the Gospel and as an author — were passed. 
Shortly after his entering upon the duties of his pastorate 
at Rye, he was married, on the 2d of July, 1861, to 
Miss Margaret E. Strang, eldest daughter of the late 
Theodosius Strang, of New York, a well-known and hon- 
orable Christian merchant. 

Of the long and faithful pastorate of Dr. Baird at Rye, 
extending over more than a quarter of a century, it is not 
needful here to speak. Some statistics which indicate, 
though only imperfectly, the results of his assiduous 
efforts, will be found in a sermon preached on the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of his installation. 

Dr. Baird's historical labors grew naturally, and not of 
forethought, from his pastoral work. The preparation 
of a sermon preached on the day of annual thanksgiving 
in 1865, led one whose mind had a distinct bent toward 
historical research to examine the causes for gratitude to 
be found in the providential experiences of the church 
and the community in the midst of which the church was 
placed. An urgent request for the publication of this 
discourse on the part of those who had heard and been 
interested in it, induced the preacher to make further in- 
vestigations, and to widen its scope. So it was that a 
sermon, which had originally been intended merely to 
serve the need of the occasion of its delivery, became a 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. g 

treatise of no mean proportions, and one of the most 
thorough and complete of local histories — " The Chron- 
icle of a Border Town : a History of Rye, 1 660-1 870." 
The preparation of this work consumed the leisure hours 
of six years ; the researches necessary for the composi- 
tion of the " History of the Huguenot Emigration to 
America " occupied about twice that length of time. 
Not to speak of the fact that the author's mother was of 
Huguenot extraction, and that the region in which his 
lot had been providentially cast contained numerous fam- 
ilies tracing their origin to the French Protestant refu- 
gees, Dr. Baird had from his earliest years been led to 
cherish unusual interest in the Huguenots by his famil- 
iarity in childhood with the scenes of some of the most 
thrilling events in their annals. As a boy he had played 
in the gardens of the Tuileries, had passed a thousand 
times by the Louvre, and pictured to himself the boy- 
king, Charles the Ninth, reluctantly ordering the butchery 
of his subjects, and fancied, when walking in front of the 
church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, that he heard the 
stroke of the bell in the tower that gave the signal for 
which the assassins were waiting. An indication of his 
early interest may be found in the circumstance that 
among his first poetical efforts, when he was fourteen 
years of age, was an historical poem in full form entitled 



IO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

" The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve." Of the ex- 
cellences of the work in which, about forty years after 
this boyish effort, he undertook to chronicle the fortunes 
of some of the refugees and their settlement in this 
country, there is the less need to speak here that a com- 
petent pen will treat of them on another page. We con- 
fine ourselves, therefore, to the remark that, in the prose- 
cution of his historical and genealogical investigations, 
Dr. Baird spared neither time nor trouble. In 1877 he 
made a special visit to London, to search the records of 
the State Paper Office, the British Museum, the Library of 
Lambeth Palace, etc., while the French National Archives 
in Paris, and the Archives of Leyden, La Rochelle, and 
other points of interest were explored by means of his 
correspondents. 

Meanwhile Dr. Baird's literary activity was not con- 
fined to extended works. As historian by appointment 
of the Presbytery of Westchester, or as a member of 
many historical societies, he prepared a number of im- 
portant papers, among which may be mentioned his 
monograph on Pierre Daille, his " Civil Status of the 
Presbyterians in the Province of New York," and the lit- 
tle volume on the " History of Bedford Church," growing 
out of a discourse delivered on the two hundredth anni- 
versary of the founding of the Presbyterian Church of 
Bedford, N. Y. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



I I 



On Monday, June 14, 1886, he delivered before the 
New York Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in the 
University of the City of New York, an oration on " The 
Scholar's Duty and Opportunity." In June, 1876, he re- 
ceived from his Alma Mater the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Divinity. In recognition of the excellence and 
utility of his literary labors, he was elected to honorary 
or corresponding membership by many societies, includ- 
ing the New York, Long Island, Virginia, and other his- 
torical societies ; and at the formation of the Huguenot 
Society of London, in 1885, he was one of the only two 
American authors chosen as honorary fellows. 

His last public service outside of his own pulpit was on 
Thursday, the 27th of January, 1887, when, by appoint- 
ment of the Faculty of Arts and Science, he preached 
before the students of the New York University the 
customary sermon of the Day of Prayer for Colleges. 
The text was Matt. v. 6 — " Blessed are they which do 
hunger and thirst after righteousness : for they shall be 
filled." It was an earnest, able, and practical plea for 
personal religion. 

His health, which was never strong, had not at this 
time given any reason for special anxiety to his friends ; 
but the earthly end was nearer than any one suspected. 
On Saturday, the 5th of February, while in his study en- 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

gaged in the preparation of the sermon which he hoped 
to preach on the morrow, he was suddenly attacked by 
what proved to be cerebral apoplexy. Apprehending 
from the first the issue of his illness, he exhibited, in the 
midst of great physical distress, not merely a cheerful 
resignation to God's will, but a strong desire to go and 
be with Christ as something far better. His trust was 
unfaltering ; his mind was disturbed by no fears. " You 
know that I am ready," were among the last words that 
he uttered before he fell into a peaceful sleep, from 
which he passed quietly away into the life eternal on 
Thursday, the ioth of February, 1887. 

His wife, a daughter, and a son survive him. 

Such, briefly told, is the story of a life of singular 
purity and consecration to the Master. Words of eulogy, 
whether respecting himself or the work that he did, it 
has been our aim to avoid. It has seemed more fitting 
to leave to other hands the duty and the privilege of 
estimating the worth of the Christian minister who, his 
work well done, so quietly and willingly relinquished his 
hold on all that was earthly at the summons of Him 
who called him up higher to partake of everlasting 
blessedness. H. M. B. 



Mb, 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



The funeral services of the Rev. Charles W. Baird, 
D. D., were held on Monday, February 14, 1887, in the 
Presbyterian Church of Rye, N. Y., of which he had for 
more than a quarter of a century been the beloved pastor. 

Prayer was offered at the manse by the Rev. W. W. 
Dowd, of Port Chester, after which the remains were 
carried to the church, where they were received by a large 
number of clergymen of the Presbyterian and other 
churches. The pall-bearers were the Rev. William Life, 
George D. Cragin, Edward P. Whittemore, William H. 
Parsons, Augustus Wiggin, Henry W. Quin, Jasper E. 
Corning, and Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. 

The services were begun by Rev. Erskine N. White, 
D. D., who read selections from the Scriptures, and was 
followed by Rev. J. Aspinwall Hodge, D. D., who offered 
prayer. The music was in accordance with the solemnity 
of the occasion. 

The Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., Presi- 
dent of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, of 
which Dr. Baird was a director, made the first address. 

DR. HITCHCOCK'S ADDRESS. 
On occasions like the one that now has called us to- 
gether, I have sometimes heard it said : " We have come to 

13 



14 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



bury Caesar, not to praise him." Our errand, brothers and 
friends, is not to bury him. He is not here. He has 
ascended. What vanishes from our sight to-day is the 
merest casket — an honored tenement while life was in it, 
going back now to its native dust. It is not death. 
Death is abolished for him and for us who share his faith. 
The grass withers, the flower fades, but its perfume is 
exhaled into the heavens. The casket is shattered, but 
the jewel is set on the brow that wears many crowns. It 
is not death. It is translation. 

This is not studied eulogy. Now and then it happens 
that the plainest, simplest recital of what a man has been 
is eulogy not intended but inevitable. 

We commemorate to-day a rounded life, as well as a 
finished life. The broken shaft is not its symbol. It is a 
finished work. We commemorate a Christian man, hus- 
band, father, citizen. You all know as well as I — many 
of you better than I — what he was in all these relations. 
We commemorate to-day a Christian scholar, whose writ- 
ten and printed records survive him, and will long survive 
to link his name and his memory with the heroic age in 
our Protestant history, irradiated by that Huguenot hero- 
ism which has never been surpassed. We commemorate 
to-day a Christian man, of gentle blood, of happy birth, 
of rare opportunities, of careful culture. Even the most 
casual acquaintances having the slightest intercourse 
with him, would say, " how gracious." We commemo- 
rate to-day a Christian minister. Permit me to call this 
the highest form of service, only in so far as it makes the 
highest end of every earthly life the business of one's 
daily life. Whoever serves God in any relation, in any 
capacity, is a priest of God ; but highly honored is the 
man whose business it is to be a priest, a true priest. 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 1 5 

This Christian minister was a Bishop of the Apostolic 
type ; a Bishop to all, — not to his own parish only. There 
was one Church in Jerusalem, and only one, and one 
Church in Rome and only one. Our friend realized, as 
few clergymen have done, in his own experience, and to 
the satisfaction of all his neighbors, that however many 
parishes there might be within this municipality, he was a 
Bishop of them — of you all. It is really worth one's 
while to live, and worth one's courage to die, when life 
may mean so much, and when the after-life is sufficiently 
revealed in all its brightness. There is only one lot for 
us all. To live is Christ, and then to die is gain. The 
great institutions under which we live, and which we 
seek to serve, appointed by God himself, are the Family, 
the Church, the State, and one law dominates in them 
all. By the fireside, by the altar, and in the arena of 
conflict, there is just one law : Christ's word to rule and 
shape our lives; Christ's life to be our pattern; and if 
we but realize this idea, in Christ to live, we surely need 
not be afraid to die. I sometimes think it requires more 
courage to live than to die. 

I remember what Christ has promised to every humble 
soul, but I know the power of temptation, and I know 
the fearful risks to character. I know that no one of us 
can be pronounced happy this side of the grave. To-day 
our names may be spotless ; to-morrow they may be 
clouded. But when we lie down to our last repose the 
seal is set and there is no more any risk of evil to us. 
The battle has been fought, the victory has been won, 
and the trumpet peal has gone under the arches : Safe ! 
safe ! 

We sometimes wonder, and we sometimes lament that 
we know so little of what is coming. How we try to 



1 6 FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 

catch a glimpse through the veil as it drops between us 
and the departed. No ! we cannot know, and yet, my 
friends, we do know. To live is Christ and to die is gain. 

The Rev. Horace G. Hinsdale, of Princeton, N. J., 
for many years pastor of the Presbyterian Church of 
Bridgeport, Conn., spoke as follows : 

REV. HORACE G. HINSDALE'S ADDRESS. 

Although it would be most in keeping with my feel- 
ings to sit in silence here, and muse with mingled grati- 
tude and sorrow upon a delightful chapter in human life 
which must now be closed, I am constrained to yield to 
the summons to lay a single flower upon the coffin of 
one who was my true friend for nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury, partly because it is the last public opportunity I 
may have of testifying my respect and admiration for 
him, and especially because it had often been said be- 
tween us that the one who should, in the providence of 
God, survive the other must speak some word of love 
and hope over the remains of his friend. 

It is no common sorrow that has brought us to- 
gether. Our dear friend and brother who now rests from 
his labors, whether he be thought of in his private or his 
public relations, was not an ordinary man. Few families 
have such a husband and father, few churches such a 
pastor, to lose. This is true, not because of his pos- 
session of one or two brilliant and conspicuous traits, but 
rather because of the completeness and symmetry of his 
character. He might not, as some, dazzle a casual acquaint- 
ance, but no one could be long with him without recogniz- 
ing a singularly harmonious and beautiful combination of 
many excellent qualities, mental, moral, and spiritual. 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



He was greatly blessed in his parentage. His dis- 
tinguished father, the late Rev. Robert Baird, D.D., de- 
voted himself from early manhood to philanthropic and 
Christian labors, having in view " the extension of Prot- 
estantism and the evangelization of the world." His ef- 
forts, both in this country and in Europe, in behalf of tem- 
perance, of public education, of Sunday-schools, of the 
widest distribution of the Holy Scriptures, of the quick- 
ening of a languid Protestantism, and of the evangeliza- 
tion of Papal populations, occupy an important place in 
the history of modern religious movements. The in- 
spiration of his example must have been profoundly felt 
by his son. Though not called by Divine Providence to 
follow precisely the same lines of work, Dr. Charles Baird 
closely resembled his father in breadth of views, in char- 
ity, in piety, in sympathy with every effort of a true 
philanthropy, in intelligent zeal for Christian missions, in 
catholicity of spirit. His recently published Phi Beta 
Kappa oration on " The Scholar's Duty and Oppor- 
tunity," well illustrates his large and enlightened out- 
look upon pressing and difficult questions which are now 
agitating society, and the solution of which will task the 
wisest judgment of the wisest men. 

Our dear brother possessed a clear, well-balanced, and 
highly cultivated intellect. His educational advantages 
were thoroughly improved. His modesty forbade his 
laying claim to superior attainments, yet those who en- 
joyed his acquaintance easily discovered that he had 
read widely and thought much. He wielded a ready 
pen, and his written style in its precision, elegance, and 
transparency indicated both the breadth and the depth 
of his culture. 

Notwithstanding the unceasing claims of parochial 



1 8 FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



duty, and the limitations imposed on him by the chronic 
frailty of his health, he made a number of valuable con- 
tributions to the literature of his time. He translated 
from the French " Malan on Romanism," and a volume 
of " Discourses and Essays " by Dr. Merle d'Aubigne. 
In his " Eutaxia, or the Presbyterian Liturgies," which 
was reprinted in London under the editorship of the Rev. 
Thomas Binney, and his " Book of Public Prayer," com- 
piled from the formularies of the Presbyterian Church, as 
prepared by Calvin, Knox, and others, he gave to the 
Church the fruit of extensive liturgical studies, and 
placed under lasting obligations not only the students 
of Presbyterian history, but likewise his brethren in the 
ministry, who, in the absence of prescribed forms of 
worship, seek help from the wisdom and piety of other 
ages in maintaining a due order and comeliness in the 
services of the House of God. These books are referred 
to by an accomplished scholar as " two learned and valu- 
able works of the Rev. Charles W. Baird, to whom be- 
longs the credit of a first investigator and collector of the 
Presbyterian liturgies." 

Of his elaborate " History of Rye," and of his " His- 
tory of the Huguenot Emigration to America," left in- 
complete, alas, by his lamented death, it is enough to 
say that they show his remarkable aptness for historical 
composition, his painstaking conscientiousness of re- 
search, his resolute determination to secure minute ac- 
curacy, and the ease and grace of style which characterize 
all his literary work. 

Personally and socially Dr. Baird was remarkably at- 
tractive. Some men are good without being winning. 
Some are frank and honest and yet are rude and repel- 
lent. But he was winning, and at the same time trans- 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 1 9 



parently honest. His courtesy was knightly ; nay, better, 
it was Christian. As a friend he was the very soul of 
honor, truth, and fidelity. He was a gentleman, not 
merely by virtue of familiar acquaintance with the usages 
of the best society, but likewise by virtue of his genuine 
benevolence in little things as well as in great. Young 
and old alike were drawn to him by his magnetic kindli- 
ness ; the ignorant no less than the cultivated could be at 
ease in his society. One could not enter his home with- 
out feeling the charm of his gracious ways, and a morn- 
ing or an evening spent with him was an enjoyment to 
be long remembered. 

The depth of his piety was manifest to those who 
were favored with his friendship. I am sure that I speak 
truly in saying that his religious experience may be best 
summed up in the New Testament phrase, " Looking 
unto Jesus." More than to minute self-inspection and 
self-dissection was he given to the adoring contemplation 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the object of his supreme 
trust and love, into whose hands he had committed him- 
self and all his interests for time and eternity, in the 
presence of whose grace and power and faithfulness he 
had learned to dismiss all doubt. Hence, notwithstand- 
ing cares and trials, and the pains of disease, he appeared 
to live constantly in the light. His piety touched and 
beautified with a radiance as from heaven his domestic 
and social life, his intellectual activities, and all his work 
for the Church. Possibly he had come to this height of 
experience through many a struggle with temptation and 
doubt and sin; I know not. This, however, was plain, 
that whatever had been at any time his spiritual conflicts, 
he had won the glorious victory of faith, and had become 
more than a conqueror through Him who loved him. 



20 FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



The chief work of Dr. Baird's life was done in this 
place, as the pastor for upwards of a quarter of a century 
of the Presbyterian Church of Rye. It would be super- 
fluous to dwell at length upon the history of a pastorate 
so impressively commemorated in his own Quarter Cen- 
tury Sermon, but some brief allusion to it is demanded 
by this occasion. He came hither while yet a young 
man, though not without experience in the work of the 
ministry, having been for a short time chaplain to the 
American Embassy in Rome, Italy, and subsequently in 
charge of a chapel in Brooklyn connected with the Re- 
formed Dutch Church. From the spring of 1861 until 
his decease he prayed and preached and toiled among 
you with but a single serious interruption during the 
twenty-five years. He brought to you his scholarship, 
his Christian character, his devotion to the kingdom of 
God, his zeal for the salvation of perishing souls. He 
soon won your affection, and he grew in your love until 
the end. He was a faithful pastor to all classes of his 
people. A sufferer himself, he could minister with deep 
and tender sympathy to the sick and the sorrowing. His 
preaching did not dazzle with fitful coruscations of elo- 
quence, but shone with a steady and mellow light, as a 
lamp in the hand of the Lord. His sermons maintained 
a high level of excellence. They were thoughtful, fin- 
ished, and edifying. Doubtless his manuscripts would 
furnish more than one volume of doctrinal and practical 
religious instruction, which would greatly edify and com- 
fort Christian people. 

Beyond the limits of his own congregation his in- 
fluence was felt. Of the Presbytery of Westchester and 
the Synod of New York he was a valued and important 
member. Of the Church Extension Committee of the 
Presbytery he was for many years the chairman. 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



21 



Your beautiful house of worship is a visible proof of 
the prosperity with which it pleased the Lord to crown 
his labors. You well know the deep interest which he 
felt in its erection, and how he desired it, not from any 
fondness for outward show, but as an expression of your 
zeal for the glory of your Divine Lord. "I recall," he 
says, " with gratitude, the circumstances in which it was 
built, the design of its erection, the spirit in which the 
work was undertaken and carried through. It was built 
to the honor of God, for the preaching of His word and 
the ministering of His ordinances. It was built for the 
use of His people as a free church, welcoming all to the 
hearing of the Gospel and to participation in the privi- 
leges of His House. It was built under an impulse of 
thanksgiving to God for the blessings of Christian union. 
May it ever preserve this significance! May it ever serve 
to magnify His work and to exalt His name ! " 

The excellent fruits of his ministry have been visible 
also in your gifts to various departments of Christian 
benevolence, in the growth and usefulness of your Sab- 
bath-school, in the number added to the membership of 
the church, and in the harmony which from first to last 
marked the relation of pastor and people. Said I not 
truly a few moments ago that few churches have such a 
pastor to lose? 

To lose ! Ah, let us employ another word in speaking 
of his translation to the heavenly bliss. Such as he are 
not lost to us, nor to the Church of God. The memory 
of his life and example remains to us a constant inspira- 
tion, a sacred force, working unseen in human hearts, 
helping, cheering, elevating, bringing forth results which 
in the great day shall appear unto his joy and the praise 
of the Lord whom he delighted to serve. His faithful 
ministry here, which guided and sanctified many, will, 



22 FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



through their prayers and labors, continue to guide and 
sanctify others and still others, generation after genera- 
tion, until at last a great multitude shall call him blessed. 
He rests from his labors; but his works do follow him. 
In this connection his own words in his Anniversary Ser- 
mon are deeply suggestive : "As I think of more than 
seventy-five young communicants connected at present 
with this Church, and of many other youth who are not 
communicants, members of that institution (the Sem- 
inary) and of the families of this congregation, the con- 
viction presses upon me that the success or failure of my 
ministry during these twenty-five years will be deter- 
mined as it shall be seen what manner of persons these 
youths shall prove to be. Oh, that they may prove to be 
good soldiers of Jesus Christ ! Oh, that they may shine 
as lights in the world ! May they be known to Jesus as 
His true and faithful friends ! May the cause of Christ 
find in them loyal, brave, unflinching defenders and pro- 
moters ; firm in their attachment to the truth ; ready 
unto every good work ! " 

Oh, friends, fail not to discharge the solemn obligation 
under which you now stand to your deceased pastor ! 
You cherished him in life. Not all pastors are permitted 
to address their congregations in the touching words 
which he spoke to you when he said : " These toils and 
these sorrows have never been aggravated by the sadness 
that comes from an experience of alienation, of hostility, 
or even of coldness and indifference on the part of a peo- 
ple. Far otherwise, they have been lightened by your 
manifest sympathy, by your unremitting care for my 
comfort and support, and by the unmistakable evidences 
of your confidence and attachment. It has been happi- 
ness to live among you and to live for you." 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 23 



Add now to this the fulfilment of the sacred obligation 
to cherish his memory, to carry forward his work, to en- 
rich others with the blessings wherewith his fidelity has 
enriched you, and thus to perpetuate the ministry which 
has so long been a fountain of good to you and yours. 

Death hath made no breach 

In love and sympathy, in hope and trust ; 

No outward sign or sound our ears can reach, 

But there 's an inward, spiritual speech 

That greets us still, tho' mortal tongues be dust. 

It bids us do the work that they laid down, 

Take up the song where they broke off the strain ; 

So journeying till we reach the heavenly town, 

Where are laid up our treasures and our crown, 
And our lost loved ones will be found again. 

The next address was made by the Rev. Wilson 
Phraner, D.D., of Sing Sing, N. Y. 

DR. PHRANER'S ADDRESS. 

. . . Dear Brethren, our Christian faith and our 
Christian hope do sustain us in a day and in an hour like 
this, so that we may smile in the midst of our tears ; we 
may rejoice in the midst of our sorrow ; we may give 
thanks to God even in the sadness of our spirit. The 
Lord takes away our loved ones, but we do not wholly 
lose the good which they have done. It still lives in the 
thoughts of the deeds and precious memories on earth, as 
they live in heaven. I do not claim, and none of us 
would think of claiming, that our dear Brother Baird was 
a perfect man, and yet I must say to you that the very 
first passage from God's Word, which came to my mind 
as I read the announcement of his death, was " A perfect 
man, . . . the end of that man is peace " ; and yet 



24 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



another passage came immediately to my thoughts, " A 
good man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." Do not 
these last words strongly and most appropriately apply 
to this dear brother who has now gone from us? While 
none of us are inclined to indulge in indiscriminate or 
extravagant eulogy — nothing would be more out of place 
here — nevertheless, I must be allowed to say that it does 
seem to me that as many or more elements that go to 
make up truly noble Christian character, true and gen- 
uine manhood — more of these elements, such as gentle- 
ness, kindness, sympathy, fidelity, conscientiousness, 
truthfulness, transparency, diligence in his work, fidelity 
in all his duties, — I say more of these elements, it seems 
to me, entered into this dear brother's character than I 
have often seen elsewhere. 

I will speak a word simply on behalf of the Presbytery 
with which our dear brother was connected. I have but 
uttered, beloved friends, the sentiment, I am sure, of all 
my brothers when I say that no man in all our number 
was more respected, more beloved, more influential for 
good, more prized for his work, more useful than he. 
Nay, I should say that no man, no single one, was so 
much beloved, so highly appreciated, so sincerely re- 
garded as he. I speak for my brethren, and I believe 
that it would be but the unanimous voice of those for 
whom I speak when I give him this place of prominence 
among his brethren. His presence with us was always a 
joy and a benediction. He was always faithful in his 
duty, ready for service, doing everything with a measure 
of excellence and perfection which was remarkable. He 
acted as historian of the Presbytery from the beginning 
of our existence in the present relations, and has done 
an amount of work — public work, too often unrecognized 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



25 



and too often, alas, unappreciated — which is unknown in- 
deed, except to those who were associated with him in 
those intimate and endeared relations which a brother of 
this Presbytery had with him. I will make an allusion 
to our last meeting of the Presbytery, only a few weeks 
ago, when he was called upon to offer a few words, which 
proved to have been his valedictory to his brethren of 
the Presbytery. The dignity and appropriateness, as 
well as the force and beauty of the thought which he 
then uttered, impressed me. I think that they were fit- 
ting farewell words, although it was unthought of by him, 
or by any of us, that we should hear his voice no more 
among us. Yet I do rejoice that he was induced to make 
that brief address to his brethren of the Presbytery. But 
I must not trespass upon your time. I want simply to 
say a few things in closing, first, to these dear friends 
who knew best and loved most this beloved brother. 
Prize the legacy, the unspeakable legacy, which he has 
left you in that symmetrical and beautiful Christian char- 
acter, and in that earnest, faithful, useful Christian life 
which he has left to you. It is the richest and the best 
of all possible legacies which he could have left you, a 
source of inspiration, of help, of hope, of joy, and a bless- 
ing for you all the days of your life. 

To this beloved and bereaved congregation and com- 
munity, may I not utter this word : Remember the 
words which our dear brother spoke while he was yet 
with you ; his wise, his earnest, his faithful counsel, ad- 
monitions, exhortations, and his instructions derived from 
God's Word. Would you see his monument ? Look 
about you in this beautiful sanctuary. But methinks that 
not only have his words impressed themselves upon you, 
but that his image lives in many of your hearts. Cherish 



26 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



the memory of the labors and prayers of this beloved 
pastor, so freely given on your behalf. 

To my brethren, the ministers of the Presbytery, in- 
deed to all, I may say : Earth grows poorer as we go on- 
ward in life, and our precious friends drop out from us 
by the wayside. The rest of the earthly journey will be 
more lonely to many from the departure of this dear 
brother in Christ, but as on earth our treasures grow less, 
so in Heaven they increase ; and is there not an influence 
and power in the translation of one, and such a one, from 
our midst to the world above, which will serve to help 
up our souls and bring us into closer communion and 
fellowship with all divine and heavenly things ? Shall 
not Heaven be nearer and Heaven be dearer henceforth 
from the fact that another of our friends has gone hither ? 
In the thought of his translation and of the glory which 
he now beholds before the Throne, shall we not find in- 
spiration to courage, earnestness, and fidelity in our duty 
to the end of our journey ? 

The Rev. John Reid, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Yonkers, N. Y., speaking in behalf of the 
Presbytery of Westchester, of which Dr. Baird was a 
member, made the closing remarks. 

REMARKS BY THE REV. JOHN REID. 

The relations existing between the members of the 
Presbytery of Westchester are not only ecclesiastical and 
official ; they are personal and fraternal. Others who 
have been with us in the interchange of social feelings 
have more than once said : " These Christians love one 
another." " We be brethren." Always, as a Presbytery, 
even when we have passed through hours when passions 



r 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 2J 



were excited and when opposing sentiments were es- 
poused with no little degree of warmth, we have known 
the blessedness of dwelling together in unity. So that, 
I am sure, the experience of one of its members was the 
experience of them all — and especially of those whose 
duty it was, on the recent Sabbath, to conduct public 
service in the Sanctuary, — that thought was burdened 
with the remembrance that a revered father and beloved 
brother, the pastor of this congregation and preacher to 
this people for more than a quarter of a century, had 
preached his last sermon ; and, having kept the faith and 
finished his course, had gone to stand with the elders 
round about the throne. The other churches sorrowed 
with this church which had lost its spiritual leader. 
With this people all the others bowed humbly and sub- 
missively unto that sovereign Lord who alone giveth life 
and in whose hands is the breath of us all — Jesus, the 
great Shepherd of the sheep, and Head of the Church 
which he purchased with his own precious blood. 

Notwithstanding the circumstances — and they are 
many more than those which have been already alluded 
to — which tend to sweeten the bitterness of this trial, I 
feel that we would not be true to our own hearts if we 
in any measure sought to hide the very mournful charac- 
ter of the event which has called us together. It is a 
very great loss which hath brought us to this place. By 
the removal of such a relative as he was, a household has 
suffered irrevocable loss ; by the removal of such a citi- 
zen this community is not so strong as it was ; by the 
removal of such a minister the church is very deeply be- 
reaved. For the sake of such a one himself, when he is 
gone, we may truly rejoice. We cannot lift up the cur- 
tain which falls between us and the glories of the eternal 



28 FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 

world ; but we can even now, with the eye of faith, see 
the shining path up which our beloved went to his 
heavenly home. His is the gain, but the loss is still ours, 
and we cannot but mourn at his removal from our midst. 
Blessed be God ! our religion does not lessen the value 
of earth's friendships ; it rather enhances them. When 
the mind is imbued with the spirit of grace, a new ele- 
ment of strength is added to the life of nature ; instead 
of repressing our rising sobs and gathering tears, our re- 
ligion bids these come forth that they may call up our 
deeper emotions to the honor of her own blessed 
name. 

By the removal of such a man as Dr. Baird was, just 
so much goodness has been taken out of a world which 
needs all it can get ; just so much helpfulness has gone 
out of the lives of very many ; just so much of that 
most potent and all-pervading influence, a holy and con- 
sistent example, has been taken away. Besides the 
other characteristics which have been alluded to, my mind 
has been dwelling upon these three as having been pecul- 
iarly prominent in our brother. When we speak of 
goodness in connection with his name, we mean that 
wonderfully ripened work of divine grace which was so 
apparent in his heart and life. That always makes itself 
known by its presence. The very presence of a holy 
man is not only a blessing ; it is a security to a commu- 
nity. There was the element of helpfulness in him. 
Selfishness is the predominant principle of our nature ; 
and in the toils and struggles of this life we need all the 
sympathy and help that our fellow-creatures can give. 
And I do not know of a surer mark by which one can 
judge of another's sterling goodness than this, that as 
soon as he comes into the presence of his fellows they 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



2 9 



are helped and cheered and encouraged. Dr. Baird was 
one with whom you could commune. They who know 
him well, know what I mean ; for I cannot trust myself 
to speak at any length about this. To me he was at 
once a father and a brother, whose counsel was often 
sought, whose advice was as often followed, whose mem- 
ory will never cease to cheer. Consistency was another 
of his marked characteristics. I remember that in his 
inaugural address, the honored professor, Dr. Hastings, 
of the Union Theological Seminary, quoted the words 
of Ruskin, which run something to .the effect that on 
clear waters there can be no shadows — shadows of cloud 
and mountain and tree ; these rest upon turbid rivers, 
and that because there is so much of earthy matter 
mixed up with them, but clear rivers show only reflec- 
tions. Dr. Baird, one of the directors of that Seminary, 
was one of the auditors of that address. And Dr. 
Baird was always one of those clear rivers. Of a very 
childlike and transparent simplicity and purity, he re- 
flected heaven on earth. We know what his religious 
principles were. They were those in which he had been 
reared in childhood ; he vowed to maintain them in his 
ordination ; he ever manifested them in private conver- 
sation and correspondence ; he faithfully preached them 
in the public ministrations of God's house, and at last in 
the faith of them he went down into the dark valley, and 
passing through, has gone up to the bright and golden 
gate. Wise in his counsel, efficient in his action, instruc- 
tive in his teaching, one of the kindest and most sympa- 
thetic of friends to everybody whom he met, his name 
will be loved and his memory will be revered wherever his 
history and character are known. 

Dear brethren of this church, yours is a great loss. 



30 



FUNERAL SERVICES AND ADDRESSES. 



You may meet many men and you may meet many 
ministers before you see his like again. But God, 
you must know, has you and your interests in his 
care. Seek his face and trust his promise. The 
Lord sanctify you in this great sorrow and sore be- 
reavement. The Lord lift up the light of his counte- 
nance upon you and bless you. Strive so to discharge 
the duties of this day as that you may realize this prom- 
ise of divine grace, that " they that wait upon the Lord 
shall renew their strength." If to them who are at rest 
it is given to look pn the continued labors of those who 
are yet upon the earth, surely it could give only joy to 
him who has passed from his earthly labors here to his 
heavenly rest there, to see that you still receive and re- 
member the word which he preached unto you ; that 
you most shrine his memory in your hearts in order to 
reproduce his character in your lives ; and that in the 
work of this church, standing as a proof of his devotion 
as well as of your liberality, his very removal has produced 
in you a fresh consecration to carry on what you know 
to be the desire of his heart and the purpose of his life. 

The benediction was pronounced by the Rev. George 
E. Stillman, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Rye. 

At the close of the services many looked on the placid 
face of the beloved dead. The body remained in the 
church until the morrow, attended through the night by 
a guard of honor composed of the trustees and a number 
of young men of the congregation. On Tuesday morning, 
February 15th, the interment took place in Greenwood 
Cemetery, attended by the male members of the family, a 
delegation of the session, and the trustees of the church. 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



At a Memorial Service, held during the stated meeting 
of the Presbytery of Westchester in Peekskill, N. Y., 
April 20, 1887, papers were read, by appointment of 
that body, by Rev. J. Aspinwall Hodge, D.D., of Hart- 
ford, Conn., and Rev. John Reid, of Yonkers, N. Y., and 
a short address was made by Rev. R. P. H. Vail, D.D., 
of Stamford, Conn. Dr. Hodge spoke of Dr. Baird's 
character and work as a minister. 

ADDRESS OF J. ASPINWALL HODGE, D.D. 

•The death of Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D., has brought 
to us, as individuals and as the Presbytery, a loss and 
sorrow inexpressible. But sanctified affliction has no 
desire to dwell upon its own personal bereavement. It 
delights to meditate upon the love of our Father in 
heaven, and the wisdom and grace of the Sovereign 
Head of the Church, and finds comfort and honor in 
what God has accomplished in and by him whom He has 
received unto Himself. The Presbytery of Westchester 
has been ennobled by the life, character, and labors of 
Dr. Charles W. Baird, and remembrance of him will 
always instruct and encourage us. He was too young a 
man to be reverenced as a patriarch, or as Paul the aged, 
whose years and infirmities rendered him unfit for further 

31 



32 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



service. We did not regard him as a father, whose prov- 
ince it was to advise and direct others in their labors. He 
was not a leader, claiming lordship or accepting control 
over those willing to be directed. Expressions of his 
acknowledged superiority were silenced by his peculiar 
deference to the graces he perceived in his fellow-servants 
of Jesus Christ. He was our best-beloved brother. When 
he spoke on Christian character, on the doctrines of 
Christ, on reverence in worship, on questions of polity, 
or the application of discipline, all listened with loving 
respect, admiring his clear apprehension of the truth, his 
delight in it, and his desire that all should perceive its 
sweetness and power. The influence of this modest man 
was never questioned, neither did it excite surprise. 
The sincerity of his convictions was evident, his judgment 
was based on sound principles and applied after calm and 
careful investigation, his doctrines were the revealed 
truth of God, he held close fellowship with men, and he 
walked with God. He was to us an ideal Presbyterian, a 
model pastor, and, above all, the most perfect exhibition 
of Christ-like character in our midst. 

Such he was in the Presbytery of Connecticut, of which 
for five years he was stated clerk. Around him the 
twenty-eight ministers of that body gathered in 1870, as 
we came to the organization of the Presbytery of West- 
chester. The opening sermon which he preached was a 
benediction on the reunion of our beloved Church and a 
prayer for new and increased power from above and for 
the harmony and co-operation of its members — " the 
communion of the Holy Ghost be with you." In this 
larger body he was at once appreciated. He was de- 
pended upon for the perfecting of our organization ; he 
was made president of the Board of Trustees, the his- 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 33 



torian of the Presbytery. He called our attention to our 
new responsibilities, and became chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Church Extension. And he held this most im- 
portant and arduous position for thirteen years. In every 
emergency all naturally turned to him. In threatened 
difficulties, church troubles, ministerial discipline, excited 
controversies, seasons of success or joyful commemora- 
tion, new undertakings, personal affliction or prosperity, 
we relied chiefly, and not in vain, on Dr. Baird. The 
reason was obvious. Most Christians are like the saints 
described in Scripture, whose prominent grace is as un- 
expected as a rose blooming in the midst of weeds. They 
are needed in certain circumstances ; as Samson, when 
the Philistines are upon us, or as Solomon, to give judg- 
ment or dedicate a temple. Often the chief characteristic 
is as uncertain as Peter's forwardness — the first to confess 
and the first to deny Christ. There are, however, a few 
like Samuel among the prophets and John among the 
apostles, who have no prominent traits, who are the 
same in public and private, present or absent. Their 
characters are symmetrically developed and sanctified. 
Their virtues are of full number, ever effective, and all 
expressed in every action. The faithful prophet is not 
more strong than gentle, his severity in judgment is 
equalled only by his tenderness as he weeps and prays for 
the rejected Saul all the days of his life. The beloved 
disciple is also the son of thunder, never more one than 
the other. These are not comets and meteors which 
surprise and dazzle us by their sudden appearance and 
splendor, but planets which calmly and continuously 
reflect the Sun of Righteousness, whose attributes are 
many, severally perfect, and are one glory. It was be- 
cause Jesus was perfect and had all grace that men with 



34 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



every burden came to Him and found rest for their souls. 
Honored is that Presbytery which has had a member who 
in some measure reflected the harmony of the divine 
graces. We have gone to the gentle Baird for sympathy, 
and have found the strong minister as well. We have 
asked for sound judgment, and received with it an impulse 
to feel and act more Christ-like. 

I am here reminded of Dr. Baird's text for his Quarter 
Century Sermon, " Remember that thou magnify His 
work." The development of Christian character and ef- 
ficiency is indeed God's work, and to Him be the glory. 
The chief object of redemption is not to deliver men 
from punishment, but to transform them after His own 
image ; out of the miserable materials of man's fallen 
nature, to form multitudes to be to the praise of the 
glory of His grace. Out of rough blocks He chisels 
seemly likenesses of Himself. The processes may be 
long, but in the end every one will be perfect as He is 
perfect. In the unfinished work, whenever we can trace 
the least resemblance, we render Him praise. How 
much more when we see one whose very presence and 
every tone, word, and act remind us of Jesus Christ. 

Our admiration of God's work is greatly increased by 
studying the process by which He accomplished it. 
Creation would lose more than half its charm if we 
knew only that " the worlds were framed by the word of 
God." The new creation is far more wonderful than the 
physical. The results, though each perfect, are of infi- 
nite variety ; the method of development in each case is 
peculiar, and at every stage of the process efficiency is 
manifested. There is always a marvellous adaptation of 
means to the end. Out of a pupil of Gamaliel, " a blas- 
phemer, and a persecutor, and injurious," by a light 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 35 



from heaven, and by sufferings innumerable, and thorns 
in the flesh, God made Paul the chief apostle to the 
Gentiles. But He chose the son of Zebedee to be the 
beloved desciple, and by the serene and intimate dis- 
cipline of love taught him to know the deep things of 
God and the glories to be revealed. 

In considering the work of God let us notice the per- 
son chosen. Dr. Baird always delighted to trace God's 
faithfulness to His covenant. There is indeed a great 
deal in blood — in the transmission of national peculi- 
arities and of family traits. No character can be un- 
derstood without a study of ancestry. Often the most 
perfect comes from the union of streams from distinct 
sources. From his father Dr. Baird received the sterling 
qualities of the Scotch race : strength of character 
founded on principles, calm deliberation in forming 
judgments, steadfastness in convictions thus obtained, 
conscientiousness, untiring perseverance, fidelity to 
friends, and self-sacrificing devotion. From his mother 
he inherited the finer graces of the Huguenots : a love 
for the true and beautiful, gentle courtesy, refinement of 
thought and manner, patient endurance, persevering in- 
dustry, hopefulness, sympathy, and cheerfulness. In him 
these national traits were sanctified by covenant grace. 
They came to him through generations who had conse- 
crated themselves and their seed unto the Lord, whose 
faith claimed the blessings of the covenant, and whose 
accumulated prayers and sanctified influences brought 
increasing benedictions upon their descendants. It is 
not surprising that this child of the covenant, born of 
such parents and under their holy instruction, should in 
very early childhood manifest covenant grace, and exhibit 
great conscientiousness and love to Christ. Nor is it 



36 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 

strange that he passed through a period of great spiritual 
conflict and doubt. For children who are consecrated 
from the womb, or regenerated in infancy, are unable to 
recall a season of antagonism against God, delight in sin, 
rejecting offers of mercy, and grieving the Holy Ghost. 
Their love for Christ has come as naturally as love for 
mother ; their desire to avoid sin and do right has ever 
been their impulse. The Bible speaks of our sinful state 
by nature, of carnal impulses, and a heart deceitful 
above all things, and desperately wicked. They have 
been conscious of no sudden change, nor of the wonder- 
ful transformation of character described by others, and 
the doubt and darkness come. Are they not still in the 
state of nature, and need regeneration into real Chris- 
tian life ? We do not know how long this strug- 
gle continued in Charles Baird, nor by what means peace 
came. But he soon learned that a star is recognized as 
such, even if we cannot tell when and how it was created ; 
that a babe lives is proof that it has been born ; that 
love to God is not the growth of an unregenerate heart ; 
that faith in Christ is the act of a soul united to Him, 
and living in Him. Before the child was thirteen years 
his doubts were removed never to return ; he had the full 
assurance of faith and hope, and entered eagerly into 
Christian work. 

Let us consider the discipline by which God developed 
this character. From what has already been said we do 
not expect exciting incidents, great trials, sudden 
changes, nor spiritual exaltations and depressions, con- 
flicts, threatened defeats, and hardly-won victories. A 
Peter's impulsiveness needs to be controlled by severe 
reproofs, walks on boisterous waves, sifting as wheat, and 
an intimation of the death by which he should glorify 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



37 



God. The Pharisaical zeal of Saul needs to be regulated 
and transformed by suffering, labors more abundant, 
perils by sea and land, in prisons, and deaths oft. Lest 
he be exalted above measure by his gifts and visions, a 
messenger of Satan is sent to buffet him, — before Paul 
can fight the good fight and receive the promised crown. 
But a John's course is even and undisturbed. External 
changes, which trouble others, do not affect him. He 
does not flee when the disciples forsake Christ. He is as 
tranquil at the foot of the cross as in the triumphant 
entry into Jerusalem ; persecution does not hurt him ; 
banishment to Patmos only enables him to see clearer 
visions of his Lord. He was the disciple whom Jesus 
loved. Not that he was the favorite, better loved, but, 
as each of the apostles needed a different discipline, 
Peter was treated with firmness ; Thomas was taught 
by demonstration, and John was nourished and per- 
fected by love. To him God was love, and so were all 
providences, duties, privileges, and rewards. The aged 
saint condensed all exhortations in " little children love 
one another." . . . 

As a preacher Dr. Baird did not aim at sensation or 
popularity, but to make known and felt the doctrines of 
grace. As a pastor, old and young, rich and poor alike 
came under his personal supervision, and all shared freely 
his. faithful reproofs, wise instruction, judicious advice, 
exhortations to zeal and benevolence, and in his sym- 
pathy in trials, perplexities, joys, and sorrows. Some 
results of his labors may be noted in the increase of 
communicants from seventy-six to two hundred and 
thirty ; two hundred and fifty-one having professed their 
faith, and one hundred and forty presented certificates 
from other churches. The Sabbath-school consisted of 



38 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 

twenty-five members ; now it reports two hundred and 
two. In 1861 the church contributed $222 to our church 
boards; in 1886, $1,966. The present church building is 
a visible monument of his labors as well as of the liber- 
ality of the people. I have already alluded to his influ- 
ence and work in the Presbytery and among his brethren. 
The results of his studies in the quiet parsonage at Rye, 
affecting important interests of the Church and world, 
will be presented to you by another. As we glance over 
this outline it is easy to perceive that his life was a unit. 
Each step was ordered by God as a preparation for his 
work at Rye and for the glory into which he has now 
entered. The licentiate whom I heard edifying the 
strangers in Rome, and saw comforting them in their 
loneliness and afflictions, was being developed into the 
presbyter, preacher, and pastor at Rye. It would be 
interesting and instructive to trace in detail the process 
of God's discipline, but I must confine myself to two 
influences at work. I select these as samples, and be- 
cause they were peculiar to Dr. Baird, and produced in 
him marked results. ... It was during his sojourn 
in Europe that the young Charles became conscious of 
his faith and began his Christian activity. The grand 
ideas of the importance of evangelical truth, of vital 
piety, of personal activity, and of true Christian union, 
filled his father with an enthusiasm which he imparted 
to all around him. It is not strange that these ideas 
were impressed upon the son and gave tone and direction 
to his Christian life and activity. Association with his 
father in Europe, and afterwards in America, developed 
these into permanent characteristics. He was not a 
Peter who needed a thrice-repeated vision to persuade 
him to preach the gospel to one of another nation, and who 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



39 



was blamed and reproved by Paul for separating himself 
from Gentile Christians, but a John r who was as much at 
home in Ephesus as in Jerusalem, who tells us of the 
other sheep to be brought, of the one fold and one 
Shepherd, who records Christ's intercessory prayer for 
Christian union, and who beheld the sealing of the one 
hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of 
Israel, and the multitude whom no man could number of 
all nations, kindreds, peoples, and tongues. He was a 
true Presbyterian, not only loyal to the doctrines, polity 
forms of worship, and discipline of his Church, but also 
heartily adopting its chief characteristics : fidelity to the 
system of evangelical truth, acknowledging the brother- 
hood of all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
sincerity, and the recognition of all Christian denomina- 
tions as parts of the one visible Church of God, which 
should be in full sympathy and cooperation, as they are 
mutually related and dependent. His pastorate at Rye 
as a demonstration of his estimate of that system of doc- 
trine taught in Holy Scripture and in the standards of 
our Church, of his interest in every Christian endeavor. 
He imparted to his people an enthusiasm for our Church 
and loyalty to all its boards. Ever known as a decided 
Presbyterian, he yet (indeed, for that reason) took the 
deepest interest in the operations at home and abroad of 
every denomination. As a pastor he was welcomed in 
every house in the village, and to the bedside even of the 
dying Romanist. 

In referring to the other influence at work in his 
development, I must again recall the important year of 
1 841. On the first day of May he walked with his tutor 
from Paris to St. Denis. Resting on the grass there 
brought on a violent attack of rheumatism, which led to 



40 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



a permanent enlargement of the heart. I know not what 
was the first effect of this experience upon the young 
lad, but the permanent results were beneficial and sancti- 
fying. The necessity of constant care and watchfulness, 
the avoidance of all excitement, continued circumspec- 
tion, laboring in appointed work, more diligently because 
listening for the summons to give in his account ; con- 
versing with men who may be receiving his last commu- 
nication, and communing with Christ, who may be seen 
the next moment face to face, — these produced in him 
much of that calmness for which he was remarkable, 
retirement, refusal of positions of honor and responsi- 
bility, his quiet earnestness in preaching, painstaking 
investigation of truth, consistency of life and influence, 
diligence in every good work, the holy atmosphere which 
surrounded him, and the joyful anticipation ever present 
to him and imparted to others. He was like Moses, 
whose face shone from communion with God ; like 
Aaron, actually touching the vail surrounded by the 
incense of worship ; and like John, conscious that his life 
depended upon the mere will of his Lord — " If I will that 
he tarry till I come," — and whose thoughts of the unseen 
yet the near were so constant and vivid that his visions 
of Christ and the New Jerusalem seem almost like pres- 
ent realities. Thus for many years Dr. Baird served at 
the altar very near the vail, expecting hourly the sum- 
mons to enter within. The call did not surprise him. 
Though it differed in form from what he anticipated, he 
recognized it at once. " It is not my heart but my head, 
and I am ready." And the veil closed behind him. 

Brethren of the Presbytery and friends, in the sorrow 
which now overshadows us, do you not hear: " Be ye 
followers of me, even as I also am of Chirst." " Hold 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 4 1 



fast the form of sound words." " Pray for the peace of 
Jerusalem," " that all may be one." " Be ye also ready, 
for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man 
cometh." 

Mr. Reid spoke of Dr. Baird as a writer and historian. 

ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN REID. 

The glowing eulogy to which we have listened has 
well and truly depicted our brother's character as a man 
and presbyter. It remains here to chronicle something 
of the influence which he exerted in the Church at large 
and in the world, particularly by means of his writings, 
and his interest and activity in beneficent works. It is 
not expected that this will be exhaustive, as entering into 
the details ; it is designed to be commemorative, as pres- 
enting the outlines, in these respects, of a very busy and 
fruitful life. . . . 

Man is by no means the creature of his circumstances ; 
but every man's surroundings wield a great influence in 
the formation of his tastes and habits ; and his earliest 
surroundings doubtless give direction to the entire course 
of his life. And there can be no doubt that Dr. Baird's 
subsequent life and labor were affected throughout by 
the education and impressions which he received amid 
the historic associations of his early scenes. . . . 

Dr. Baird loved study. And this love for letters, which 
was inborn, mingled with a quiet patience and firmly 
resolute will in their pursuit, made him the scholar we 
all revered. Accuracy was the distinguishing feature of 
his intellect and culture. In every instance, and with the 
utmost nicety, was any literary fabric upon which he 
labored fairly morticed into the framework of his mind. 



42 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



Finely adjusted from the beginning, the balance between 
power and faculty was maintained with him to the end. 
We all knew him as one eminently thoughtful and prac- 
tical, in whose mind judgment ruled over imagination. 
In a word, his scholarship was the complement of his 
character. Without having any of its features peculiarly 
prominent, it was, in the altogether of its form, full-orbed 
in beauty, really symmetrical in combination, chastened 
and finished into roundness and completeness. Very 
concise and simple, his style as a writer was warm and 
glowing, vigorous and forcible. It is a feature, even of 
his wider historical works, which much impresses us, and 
gives to them a peculiar value : that the author's person- 
ality is so embodied in his writings. Thus to read a writer 
is always to vivify what he wrote. Dr. Baird's oration, 
afterwards published, which was delivered before the 
Beta Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in the New 
York University last year, on " The Scholar's Duty and 
Opportunity," for example, marked the wide compass 
of a master mind in the originality of conception, the 
acuteness of observation, the discrimination of judgment, 
and the clearness of decision with which he dealt with 
political and social questions that are now agitating the 
minds of men, and will for a long time to come require 
the wisdom of the wisest to solve and to settle. And 
those who heard the sermon which, at the invitation of 
the Faculty, he preached in the same place on the Day of 
Prayer for Colleges, only two weeks before he died, were 
deeply moved by a beauty of diction, a depth of pathos, 
the dignity of a refined spirit, which illustrated well the 
duty as it laid hold upon an opportunity of the Christian 
scholar who, in the school of Jesus, had learned well 
" the wisdom that is from above," and was himself so 
nearly ripe to be transplanted to its home. . . . 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 43 



While Dr. Baird's powers of imagination were not his 
predominant ones, he had that devout spirit which pe- 
culiarly delights in music and poetry, as was manifested 
during his earlier years, and from time to time in later 
life, in many contributions to the treasury of our sacred 
song. It was during the time of which we are speaking 
that he wrote u Lays of the Cross," which appeared in 
successive numbers of Graham s Christian Parlor Maga- 
zine, and among which were " Behold Your King," " Be- 
hold the Man," "The Dream of Pilate's Wife," and others. 
Frederick Saunders, in " Evenings with the Sacred 
Poets," writes that " a happy union of beautiful senti- 
ment with the music of verse is seen in this sweet lyric, 
by the Rev. C. W. Baird, of Rye, N. Y." : 

In all the scenes of childhood's day 

That memory paints, as years recede, 

The beauty of a blessed deed 
Is last to fade away. 

The guileless love that lasted long, 

The zeal of piety unfeigned, 

The courage of a heart unstained 
That only feared the wrong, 
The lingering prayer put up at night 

Low bending by my mother's knee, 

The tear of pity, and the glee 
Of innocent delight, — 
These are the memories that she brings, 

Kind guardian of mine earlier days, 

These are the nightly thoughts that raise 
Mine eyes to holier things. 

The recognition and appreciative praise of such emi- 
nent authorities in hymnology and sacred song justify 
and emphasize the hope we would fain express that 
something will be done to preserve the poetic produc- 
tions of a gifted and saintly mind. 



44 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 

In the year 1846 the Evangelical Alliance was formed 
in England. Dr. Baird, Sr., was an active and honored 
participant in its establishment and deliberations. In 
185 1, largely through his efforts, the " American Branch," 
which had been previously formed, but did not prosper, 
was renewed and permanently established. But during 
the years '48, '49, and '50 the interests of the Alliance 
movement here had been fostered by The Christian 
Union and Religious Memorial, a valuable periodical 
which was published every month, and which became 
eventually the organ of the American Alliance. This 
was under the editorial supervision of the father, " but 
the principal portion of the editorial labors devolved 
upon his son." Occasionally contributing original arti- 
cles, both prose and poetical, Dr. Baird's work in this was 
largely that of compilation and translation, but necessi- 
tating throughout untiring labor and care, and calling in 
his wide familiarity with religious literature and the im- 
portant movements of the day. Now also, in connection 
with the Rev. Benjamin N. Martin, D.D., a professor in 
the New York University, he wrote the greater part of 
" The Christian Retrospect and Register," published in 
185 1 — " a volume devoted to a review of the world's 
progress in the first half of the nineteenth century, which 
was issued under Dr. Baird's [the father's] auspices." 

In this way the year after his college graduation was 
filled with literary labors of great worth. In the fall of 
1849 ne entered the Union Theological Seminary. One 
who was a student with him, and is now an honored pro- 
fessor there, remembers him then as " a quiet, modest, 
refined, scholarly man, deeply serious in all his work and 
ways. Peculiarly patient and thorough as a student, 
whatever he did, he did well." In 1886 he was elected 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



45 



a Director of the Seminary. For five years before his 
death he had been the Necrologist of the Alumni Associ- 
ation. All who knew his spirit can understand how that 
"he rendered, in that relation, admirable service." . . . 

Licensed to preach the gospel, in 1852, he assumed the 
charge of the American Chapel in Rome, where he con- 
tinued to labor until near the close of 1854, when he re- 
turned to this country. Up to 1859 there appears here a 
gap in his ministerial life. But the period is especially 
marked, in his literary activity, as the time when his well- 
known liturgical works appeared. Brought up amid the 
surroundings of Paris and Geneva, attracted by his innate 
love of " order " to a study of the liturgies of the Reformed 
Churches, probably knowing more about these than any 
other man on this side of the Atlantic, it had occurred to 
him, as to Dr. Samuel Miller, " even to doubt whether 
the well-known doctrine of our beloved Church with re- 
gard to liturgies may not have been so rigidly interpreted 
and so unskilfully applied as to lead to practical misap- 
prehension and mischief in regard to the devotional part 
of the services of our sanctuaries." Deeply moved by 
the inadequacy, not to say irregularity, which is still 
often to be lamented in such services, he felt " that by 
so much as the public worship of God may be rendered 
attractive, may awaken interest, and excite and sustain 
devotional feeling, by so much have we lost power and 
influence as a Church." Maintaining and always exem- 
plifying the simplicity and integrity of his Church, Dr. 
Baird had peculiar honor and love for her traditions. 
So, disavowing any " voice of authority," he entered upon 
a purely historical discussion of the true theory and nor- 
mal practice of our Church in this regard. The result of 
this appeared in his " Eutaxia." The book was published 



46 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 

anonymously in 1855, and afterwards reprinted in London 
under the editorship of the Rev. Thomas Binney. It 
must be regarded as one of the pioneer books in the re- 
vival of interest in liturgical studies. Avoiding the two 
extremes — on the one hand, that certain forms alone 
should be used ; on the other, that no forms should be 
admitted — Dr. Baird maintained the theory of an optional 
use of a liturgy which should have the sanction of an- 
tiquity and of Church authority. In about a year this 
was followed by "A Book of Public Prayer, Compiled 
from the Authorized Formularies of Worship of the Pres- 
byterian Church, as Prepared by the Reformers, Calvin, 
Knox, and Others." Whatever his view of the question 
involved, the student of ecclesiastical history will not fail 
to note his indebtedness to Dr. Baird for the very com- 
plete and careful resumt of the liturgies of the Reformed 
Churches, and for the very accurate review of their rela- 
tions to one another and to all other liturgical forms, 
which he has given in these admirable volumes. " Our 
Church possesses a devotional literature of her own, rich 
and copious." And grateful to our brother for " making 
known the forgotten worship of our fathers — the prayers 
that have nourished the faith of generations, that have 
breathed from the lips of martyrs, that have hallowed 
the caves and deserts of persecution," there are many 
who share in what was his hope, that the day is not far 
distant when, in our common use of the wisdom and piety 
of other ages, new dignity and solemnity and impressive- 
ness shall be associated, among us, with the strength and 
beauty that belong to God's house. . . . 

On the day of national thanksgiving in 1865, in which 
year the two hundredth anniversary of the town of Rye 
had occurred, the pastor delivered a discourse, which gave 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 47 



not only a history of the Presbyterian church there, but 
an outline of the history of the town itself. A request 
from many of his parishioners that the address should be 
published, led to his elaborate " History of Rye," which 
appeared in 1871 ; and which in its preparation had 
" occupied many of the leisure hours " of the six years 
that had preceded. To the valuable " History of West- 
chester County " published last year, under the editorial 
supervision of Dr. J. T. Scharf, he contributed the two 
chapters, which give the histories of Rye and Harrison. 
Because of his rare power of accumulation and retention 
and discriminating judgment of events, he was " the his- 
torian of our Presbytery." To him we are indebted for 
the very complete " Historical Account of Presbyterian- 
ism in the Field Embraced by the Presbytery." In 1879 
there appeared in the Magazine of American History, 
and afterwards in pamphlet form, his " Civil Status of 
the Presbyterians in the Province of New York." In 
1881 was published his " History of Bedford Church," 
which had in that year celebrated the two hundredth 
anniversary of its founding. " One practical and helpful 
result of his history has been the deepening of this 
people's love for their church." 

At the time he commenced his " History of Rye," Dr. 
Baird had no thought of taking up his greatest work, 
which was also to be his last. His mother was one whose 
ancestors had been driven from their native country by 
the persecuting fury of Louis XIV; he had himself been 
reared amid scenes which had led him, while yet a lad, to 
compose a poem, "The Massacre of Bartholomew" ; he 
was married to a descendant of a Huguenot family. And 
one might naturally expect to find in such circumstances 
the moving cause to his writing a Huguenot history. 



48 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



But these facts were the little streams which came 
together as he prepared the history of the town in which 
he lived. His brother, the Rev. Professor Henry M. 
Baird, had for eight or nine years been engaged on his 
" Rise of the Huguenots of France." Patiently and 
laboriously examining records and collecting facts for his 
local history, Dr. Charles had met with the names of 
many of Huguenot descent, whose family lines he had 
traced. A new theme was thus brought into the inter- 
course of the brothers; and out of this Dr. Baird was 
induced to take up the study of " The Huguenot Emi- 
gration to America." It was all one of those striking 
illustrations of the way in which, through a beautiful 
harmony and association, He who rules over all makes 
the events of a life work together and the lines of differ- 
ent lives converge, so that His way is made known among 
the people. " God is in history " — in the recording of it 
as well as in the making of it. 

It will be remembered as one of the unique and valu- 
able characteristics of this work of Dr. Baird, that it con- 
nects the families and even the individuals of whom it tells, 
with the places whence they came. Charmed with the 
vivid interest which these biographies of individual 
refugees have given to the narrative, we who read can 
form little conception of the amount of severe and 
exhaustive labor they entailed. From widely scattered 
sources, manuscript as well as printed ; from documents, 
wills, letters, church and family records; many of which 
were reached only with difficulty ; many of which had 
never been known by their custodians to be called for or 
examined before — were these facts gathered. Not only 
were the records in the cities of our own country dili- 
gently searched ; but, as England was the halting-place of 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 49 



so many of the exiles, before they set out to the New- 
World, Dr. Baird went there, and spent time in indefatiga- 
ble researches in the Library of the British Museum, in 
that of Lambeth Palace, in the British State-Paper Office 
under care of the Master of the Rolls ; and, by cor- 
respondence, among the archives in the capital of France. 
Such labors, extending through a half-score of years, have 
placed under deep obligation to the name of Charles 
W. Baird, all in this country who can boast of Hugue- 
not blood. A very Thesaurus of family lore, there is 
hardly a Huguenot name known here, of whose history, 
this work does not give some new and curious fact. But 
Dr. Baird did something more than write a book of 
domestic genealogy. His was the first systematic and 
detailed history of an emigration which brought into the 
growth of the colonies of America, an element of sterling 
worth quite out of proportion to its numbers, and which 
is still felt for good. A truly patriotic work, therefore, 
this enters as a valuable contribution into the history of 
our country. 

It was in the spring of '85 that the two volumes 
appeared. On May 13th of the same year, Dr. Baird was 
made an " Honorary Fellow " of the Huguenot Society 
in London. Last year he received an application from 
the Society for the Publication of Religious Books in 
Toulouse for permission to translate his work into the 
French. Yielding all rights in the matter, consent was 
freely extended. Last January, about one month before 
he died, there came from the publishing house in France, 
two copies of the translated work. And in them the 
honored author seemed to take more delight than he had 
been able to allow himself in connection with the original 
publication here. 



50 MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 

Telling the story of the Huguenot settlement in New 
England in these two volumes, it was our brother's pur- 
pose to carry his survey farther south, into the Middle 
and Southern States, for future volumes. But this was not 
to be. The standard-bearer fainted. The pen of the ready 
writer ceased. Yet it is only when their work is done that 
God calls his servants to their eternal reward. This labor- 
er s life-work was completed. And it is a blessing for 
which we devoutly thank our God that the workman was 
spared and enabled to finish what we think he above all 
others was fitted to accomplish. Having served his 
generation — and served it well — according to the will of 
God, he fell asleep. His was a pure and useful life that 
has won the praise of men and the approbation of God. 
His face shone, but he wist it not. The Lord make us all 
more like him, for of us all he was most like our Lord ! 

REMARKS OF REV. R. H. P. VAIL, D.D. 

After so much has been said, and so well said, it would 
be superfluous for me to detain you long. Dr. Baird's 
memory is enthroned in the hearts of us all. We shall 
carry it with us to our dying day. We need no formal 
resolutions, no words from human lips, to insure his name 
perpetual place in our hearts. His character was many- 
sided. Indeed, he had so many graces that, were each of 
his characteristics to be spoken of, how many of us would 
to-day find texts for discourse ? I would dwell upon a 
single one which was so marked that we all were im- 
proved by it. His Christian urbanity was so winning. 
He was one of the most urbane of men. At once a 
Christian and a gentleman, he won us all. Many gentle- 
men are not Christians, and many Christians are so 



MEMORIAL SERVICE AND ADDRESSES. 



51 



undeveloped that they are not always gentlemen. He 
was always a Christian, and always a gentleman. One 
could not be in his presence without realizing this. Dr. 
Hodge, meeting him in a foreign country, and for the 
first time, was immediately impressed with his winning 
urbanity. It has been said that manners make the man. 
Rather should it be said that manners reveal the man. 
They unbosom the spirit within. 

Gracious manners are exponents of the inner graces. 
Because his inner spirit was so gracious, his manners 
were gracious. He was like Stephen, in that he had the 
face of an angel. Not that the light from without smote 
his face ; but that the light from within, with its charm- 
ing and saintly qualities, became revealed in an angel's 
face. He was always so pure, so gentle, so loving. His 
goodness shone not only in his face, but round about 
him, in his walk from day to day. We speak of an " angel 
in the house." Dear friends, many of us have had the 
pleasure of welcoming this angel in our homes. When 
Dr. Baird came to visit us we felt that there was an angel 
in our midst. 

Dr. Guthrie once said of a friend who was remarkable 
for his saintly qualities, that it seemed as if holiness 
was written on the walls, and on the chairs, and on the 
table, when he had been there. And so it was with 
Dr. Baird when he walked up and down among the 
homes of Rye, leaving a benediction on each as he 
passed. 

Dear friends, with what affability he conducted him- 
self ! Oh, how he charmed us ! He took us each one by 
the hand, with a graceful, gentle, kind grasp. Now he 
has gone on in advance, to await our coming into that 
general and risen assembly of saints. 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



On Sunday morning, March 27, 1887, the Rev. Dwight 
M. Seward, D.D., former pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Yonkers, preached in the Presbyterian Church 
of Rye, taking for the text of his sermon James iv. 14 : 
" For what is your life ? It is even a vapor that appeareth 
for a little time, and then vanisheth away." He con- 
cluded with a beautiful tribute to Dr. Baird, which is 
here given entire. He said : 

The life that was lived among you and has just closed, 
the life that gave its strength and energy and all its rich 
resources to your best welfare ; that for a quarter of a 
century filled your temple-halls with the messages of the 
cross ; this life, by its godliness, its fruitfulness, its har- 
mony, gave the true answer to the question that we have 
studied this morning, " What is your life ? " 

The lessons of this life ! They have appealed to you 
in these last weeks more vividly than before the life 
ended ; you have sadly yet thankfully looked again and 
again upon them, and pondered them with a deepening 
sense of great and irreparable loss. 

These lessons were so fully set before you in the stern 
and solemn hours of the funeral service, that I have 
abstained from devoting the entire message of the morn- 
ing, as my heart moved me to do, to memorial utter- 

52 



X 



» 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 53 

ances. Yet I cannot close this service without giving 
expression to some thoughts concerning this just-closed 
pastorate, and this just-ended life, that would not be 
likely to find their way into other commemorative ser- 
vices. I trust that I may be permitted to speak with the 
familiarity and freedom of a long friendship. Dr. Baird 
took a leading part in the celebration of our Silver-Wed- 
ding service at Yonkers in 1861, and read a poem of 
exceeding fitness and beauty, which he had written for 
the anniversary. 

By the special request of my children, he presided at 
our Golden-Wedding commemoration a year ago, and 
wrote for it an appropriate hymn, and conducted a most 
impressive service of responses, which he had prepared 
for the occasion. 

I was about asking him if he would kindly perform the 
final service at our departure, for I had not even thought 
that the summons to the other world could come first to 
him. 

It is only a little more than a year since I was called to 
address you on the Sabbath in the stead of your pastor, 
who was suddenly disabled for his accustomed service ; 
— disabled, it seems to me, by an attack that was the 
herald of the severer blow, that brought his work to an 
abrupt close, and sternly summoned him away from us. 
He said to me then with entire calmness that his sickness, 
he was thoroughly aware, was not without the peril of a 
fatal issue. I plainly perceived that death could not sur- 
prise or terrify him, come when and how it might. 

I was present at his installation more than twenty-five 
years ago, and I must be pardoned for an allusion that 
illustrates the lenient generosity of your pastor's judg- 
ments. I came as a friend, for I was not a member of the 



54 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



ecclesiastical body that installed him. But the member 
of Presbytery to whom was assigned the giving of the 
charge to the people, was unable to be present. So at 
your pastor's suggestion I was pressed into the service, 
and most imperfectly prepared the charge while the ser- 
vices that preceded it were going on, and delivered it in 
its turn. 

I can remember as though it were yesterday, how 
delicately your pastor relieved my sense of shame for the 
imperfection of my effort, and how kindly and charitably 
he spoke of my crude and hasty service. 

Dr. Baird was a member of my congregation for a 
decade of years. I should hardly be speaking figuratively, 
if I were to say that he was my colleague. In every pos- 
sible way he was my helper. When I was overtaxed with 
duties, he would take a portion of them for my relief. 
As he was universally beloved and respected by my 
people, his co-operation was most serviceable and wel- 
come. 

He aided me in the pulpit and out of it. He was highly 
active and efficient in a powerful revival of religion that 
prevailed while he was with us, and was clearly instru- 
mental in winning souls to Christ, and in building them 
up in the true faith. I cannot doubt that he was then 
in unconscious training for his long term of effective and 
successful service in his pastorate with you. 

Dr. Baird had an hereditary right to the finest qualities 
of character. His father, the Rev. Dr. Robert Baird, had 
a world-wide reputation for the breadth and correctness 
of his knowledge of men and of events ; of the manifold 
signs of the times, and the fields of labor to which they 
pointed. His friends among the clergy and laity of Eng- 
land and Scotland often assured him that he was more 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



55 



thoroughly acquainted with the state of morals and 
religion on the Continent than themselves. Some of you 
know with what eminent talent for the knowledge and 
teaching of history he was endowed. His memory was 
highly exceptional for the infinite number of facts and 
events which it easily held, and for its unimpeachable 
accuracy of dates. Your pastor inherited that historic 
gift, that marvellous power of accumulation and retention 
and arrangement. His literary labors began in his very 
boyhood, and he was an unceasing, indefatigable student, 
to the time of his death. 

The mother of your pastor! — Well, if the wise man 
who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes had met with such an 
one as she was, he would not have made that record, 
" A woman among them all have I not found ! " I used 
to think that her character had every one of the sterling 
virtues and the Christian graces in it. It was her refined 
soul, her warm heart, her deep sympathies, her unselfish 
spirit, her fine taste, with her intelligence and ripe culture 
that shaped and moulded her simple, genial, elegant, fas- 
cinating manners. You will allow me to make this allu- 
sion, for I believe that it was largely from that saintly and 
now sainted mother that your pastor derived that 
exquisite delicacy, that indescribable grace, that ever 
present refinement, that magnetic sympathy, which im- 
parted such a peculiar charm to his personal intercourse, 
and inspired in all who knew him both affection and 
admiration. I suppose that you know how deeply he 
loved you — his holy flock. He regarded you as a most 
true and loyal people. I suppose that you know better 
than I do what a genuine affection he felt for these chil- 
dren and youth, and what a guardian interest he cherished 
for the Seminary represented in this sanctuary, and how 



56 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



he looked upon it as the crown and ornament of your 
delightful village. In a letter received from him not long 
ago, he observed incidentally that his home here would 
not be what it was, without the presence and influence of 
this Institution. 

I am not here to-day to draw the portrait of your pastor's 
character, nor to name the chief labors of his life. That 
genial duty is fittingly assigned to his literary associates 
and to his co-presbyters. Nor will I trust myself to dwell 
upon the greatness of your loss. If we could commune 
with him, he would not consent to have me draw a dis- 
heartening picture of your sore bereavement. Let me 
speak rather of the benediction which this ministry has 
left you. For it seems to me that the length, and 
the harmony, and the success of this pastorate are pro- 
phetic, and should make you not only grateful for the 
past, but hopeful for the future. 

It may seem a small thing to allude to, but upon the 
sad and memorable day of the funeral services, I was 
confident that you would bless Him who giveth and who 
taketh away, for the lifelike naturalness of your lamented 
pastor in his burial-raiment. Sickness had not enstamped 
its scars, and death had not graven the marks of its 
scourge. 

The placid brow, the speaking lips, the radiant face, 
the angelic expression, suggested the profound, the sweet 
and blissful rest which remaineth to all such as he was, 
and to which his liberated soul had fled. I was reminded 
of the words of the hero of one of Shakespeare's tragedies 
over the sleeping, and, as he believed, the dead body of 
the heroine. 

" Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, 
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty ; 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



57 



Thou art not conquered ; beauty's ensign yet 
Is crimson on thy lips and in thy cheeks, 
And death's pale flag is not advanced there." 

Your pastor is summoned away from you, but he will 
be with you still. You will be conscious of his power and 
influence through all your mortal lives. You remember 
the story of the Moabites casting a dead man hastily into 
the sepulchre of Elisha, and how when he was let down 
and touched the bones of the prophet, he sprang back to 
life and revived and stood upon his feet. 

That incident suggests the power of a godly man, and 
a gifted man. after his departure. You will tell your chil- 
dren, and they will tell their children, of the rare worth, of 
the ripe attainments, of the beautiful and Christ-like 
character, of the active and laborious life of this honored 
servant of God. 

Dull lethargic souls will be quickened into interest and 
enthusiasm as they come into contact with the tokens of 
his undying power. Timid and fainting souls will be 
rallied into courage and action as they learn how calmly 
and bravely he labored on, year after year when death 
was standing visibly at the door. 

There is much more to perpetuate the memory and 
influence of your pastor than can be found with the large 
majority of deceased pastors. It may not be too much 
to say that they leave commonly a fair record of fidelity. 
But that is nearly all that keeps vital their influence. 
True, they leave large masses of sermons that cost search 
and struggles and tears, and that have done their ap- 
pointed work. But these rarely see the light after their 
single office is fulfilled. They silently await the day of 
cremation. But of your honored pastor, it may truly be 
testified that his works do follow him. The well-wrought 



58 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



monuments of his indefatigable industry, of his pains- 
taking and scholarly research, remain and will be per- 
petuating his power on and on through many coming 
years. They place him in the front rank of historical 
Christian writers. He will be one of the sceptred monarchs 
who rule men from their urns. 

And these monuments belong to you. Some of them 
are the records of your own local history. They are a 
part of the heritage which your pastor left to you and for 
you. I confess there is a deep, dark mystery in this 
arrest of a beneficent life ; in this sudden calling off from 
labors which few are qualified to perform. I cannot see 
through the cloud. I cannot fathom the depths. It 
looks, if we may use the lament of Hezekiah, as though 
your pastor were deprived of the residue of his years. 
Rich material accumulated for future uses ! New mental 
structures begun and going on to rich completion ! Gos- 
pel-messages ripening, maturing for you in that teeming 
brain, in that loving heart! But I am sure there is no 
mystery on the other side of the river which he has just 
crossed. To us this summons of death looks like a fear- 
ful interruption of important labors. In truth, as God 
sees it, as the angels see it, as your pastor sees it now, 
there is no interruption at all. 

I remember to have seen advertised, for performance, 
an unfinished symphony of Beethoven. Yet who would 
need to be sad over the lacking part, if he might hear in 
another spot, in a brighter world, a richer and completed 
symphony with grander harmonies, with finer instruments, 
with a larger and more skilful orchestra, with Bethlehem- 
angels bearing part ! 

Who doubts that your pastor's life goes on ? Who 
believes that God creates such a man, builds him up so 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



59 



royally, girds him with such might, enriches him with such 
knowledge, honors him with such revelations, ripens him 
with such a noble manhood, and then dooms soul and 
body to the same fate of extinction ? Our God is not the 
God of the dead, but of the living. Christ is the con- 
queror of death, and because Christ lives, your pastor 
lives also. He is doing work diviner even than that 
which he left so suddenly, and from which it seemed to us 
that he could not be spared. 

We all believe this about his uninterrupted life. Our 
great want in these hours of fresh grief is intense realiza- 
tion. God grant to us who loved him deeply, and sorely 
miss him, a faith so strong and revelations so clear that 
he shall still be living and speaking to us ! God bestow 
upon us not a mere transient mood of confidence, not a 
mere passing vision of glory that like a lightning-flash 
leaves behind a deeper darkness, but a deep, unfaltering 
conviction that already he is one in the cloud of witnesses 
that compass us about ! Then the cheering thought of 
Miss Havergal will be practical and uplifting in our 
sorrow — 

" For I know 
That they who are not lost, but gone before, 
Are only waiting till I come, for death 
Has only parted us a little while, 
And has not severed e'en the finest strand 
In the eternal cable of our love ; 
The very strain has tuned it closer still 
And added strength ; the music of their lives 
Is nowise stilled, but blended so with songs 
Around the throne of God, that our poor ears 
No longer hear it." 

I hardly dare to speak of the happy home upon which 
the blow of this bereavement has fallen most heavily ; 



6o 



MEMORIAL SERMON. 



where the sudden going away of your honored pastor is 
most keenly felt. Yet, I may say this to the beloved 
wife and children — that the greatness of their loss is the 
measure of the greatness of God's gift to them ; and this 
— that the memories of the husband and the father will 
grow more fragrant and precious, as the weeks and the 
months of loneliness come and go. I am confident that 
all of you will wish me to assure them that wherever the 
lines may fall to them, they have heart-felt remembrance 
in the closets and at the family-altars of his devoted flock. 
And I am persuaded that Christ is willing to have me 
take his own words and make them the message of his 
faithful ambassador to this smitten household. " A little 
while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while and 
ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." 



TRIBUTES. 



Under the heading " Charles Washington Baird — 
Model Man and Minister," the Rev. Rollin A. Sawyer, 
D.D., wrote in the New York Evangelist of April 14, 
1887: 

We are apt to remember men in some words spoken by them or of them. 
The tenderest memorials are not infrequently a sentence short as an epitaph, 
or an expression brief as an epigram. We usually recall them in picture as 
they looked on some special occasion. Our thoughts speak the portraiture 
in a few words that convey its full significance. 

It is in this way that we write beneath the name of our brother beloved 
the words given above. He was just that — grandly and always that : man 
and minister met in him, and both were models. No one ever saw him in 
any other character. We knew him personally for more than thirty years ; 
saw him often ; sometimes stood opposed to him ; worked with him, and 
voted occasionally against him ; loved and admired him always ; and never 
saw in him any thing unbecoming the man or the minister. In all this time 
it is impossible to recall a word, a gesture, or even a look, that was not in 
perfect accord with his character as a model of manhood and of ministerial 
demeanor. This is very high praise, but it is honest, and it is truth. Some- 
how we expected it of him while he was with us, and it only surprises us as we 
write it out, now that he is gone, that we did not more fully realize the rare 
eminence which this modest man was holding so easily among us, yet so 
naturally that not until now did we ask how it was clone. 

The explanation, like that of many things, is only another form of asser- 
tion. The rare quality of a man is the secret of his life. We discover it, 
but we do not define ; we enjoy, yet do not explain. The most we can do 
is to recount the varied manifestation of this subtle spirit of rare manhood, 
turning it round in the light of loving memory to make its diamond-like 
facets shine. 

61 



62 



TRIBUTES. 



This, too, is best for us, for men pass away in the hurry of a fleet life, all 
too soon fading out of touch and impression among their busy fellows, who 
loved and learned of them but a little while ago. To memories overburdened, 
the claim that is responded to readily must be the best of the very best men. 
Of these we wisely think the oftener, suffering, as is needful, all the rest to 
fade — faults, into oblivion ; virtues, into a broad track of light like the wake 
of a ship under sun or moon. 

The fact that lifts Dr. Baird into prominence in the memory of a wide 
circle, has been already stated in the word model. He was not the greatest 
man in any other way than in this : that he was simply and consistently 
ideal. He lived in the country parsonage of a quiet parish, much at home, 
mainly busy for his own people ; yet he left a loss behind his bier that was 
felt in the city and to the limits of the Presbytery in every denomination. 
This is his memorial to-day : " Everybody misses Dr. Baird." The man is 
missed ; the minister is mourned. The secret of it is, the man was com- 
plete. This is rarer than to be distinguished for great excellence in certain 
things. The complete man is so nearly faultless that we write him perfect. 
So we write of our brother. Somehow we feel in our bereavement so poor 
that we hardly expect to look upon his like in this world. There will be a 
place among us vacant for the rest of our lives. It is too much to hope that 
one so very nearly perfect, in a certain modest, lovable way peculiarly his 
own, will come to us without time. His friends have the right to regard him 
as a special gift, a peculiar treasure. There is no disparagement of any 
great or good man in this eulogy of one whom God gave to us in the same 
sovereign way in which He took him — all too soon for us, none too soon for 
him who was always ready — to the glory that sometimes seemed to smite 
him even while he waited for the final disclosure that came with death. His 
rare graces of manner and of character were the points where divine grace 
became manifest. His spirit was surely and always ' ' the candle of the 
Lord." It is a reverent act, therefore, to love him and cherish his worth. 
There are men whom it is piety to remember well. The adulation of some 
is a hero-worship that is both senseless and utterly selfish. Great men have 
parasites who wriggle along in their wake while they live, and weave them- 
selves in conspicuous mourning after they are dead. It is therefore a com- 
fort to love and to lament a man who hid himself in Christ so that his friend- 
ship meant discipleship. Mourning for him is a longing to be with Jesus. 

We might sum up the character of Dr. Baird in one word which names its 
controlling sentiment, Loyalty. He was unfailingly loyal to every duty and 
relation. He bore himself always in loyal observance of every thing that 
was expected of him or of his profession. There was a fine flavor of chivalry 
in his appearance. You thought of the chivalric Bayard, whose poses sug- 



TRIBUTES. 



63 



gested valor alert and ready. One never saw Dr. Baird when he seemed to 
be in undress or off guard. We recall this impression as made distinctly on 
the mind of a young minister into whose congregation he first came as a 
stranger, but afterward as a helper at need. That fine face, cultured in its 
youthful expression and repose ; that manly, modest bearing, was token to 
any eye of loyalty to purpose and to calling. That impression has only grown 
with years and intimacies. It was so lasting because the man was genuine. 
We know how a clerical coat rather shows a shallow man to disadvantage. 
We have seen soldiers whose glory was all in their gilded emblems — garnished 
weakness. But when we find a man who glorifies his uniform, we give him 
honor. We remember young men who dreaded the regulation dress of 
clergymen through an honest fear that they could not fill it. Young or old, 
Baird always filled it. It fitted him as a man ; he honored it as a minister. 
It was the loyalty of one of the old guard. He was proud of the company, 
and of the cause. It was not self he considered, but when self is consecrated, 
it is to be held sacred for that which it represents. A man is to be trusted 
who thinks dishonor to himself is injury to his flag. That calm courage to 
assume responsibility, in certainty that no trust should ever be betrayed, was 
in the face we saw years ago ; it lingered, a sunset glow on the brow as we 
wept upon his bier. No man was more esteemed for his charity ; few, per- 
haps, so thoroughly trusted by men of other ecclesiastical connections, yet 
Dr. Baird was marked for his loyalty to Presbyterianism. If he never for- 
got that he was a minister, he equally remembered that he was a Presbyterian 
minister. If he ever seemed to take an adverse decision of his Presbytery 
to heart, it was found that not his self-love, but his loyalty to his church had 
been touched. How hard it was to oppose him ! How readily young men 
came to think he might be right, when to them he seemed most wrong in 
judgment. And in the main he was right. In all these years how rarely has 
it happened that his loyal love for the church has not carried weight, and won 
the case in face of eloquence and urgent impulse. When it was over, the 
quiet words which had almost been lost in debate, were applauded by the 
second thought. This loyal man was a good advocate of a good cause ; he 
was an impartial judge in all. Perhaps the rather exceptional harmony of 
his Presbytery owed more to him than we knew. Yes, that strong bond of 
personal affection which has united us, always spoke with his voice and 
looked from his eye. It was never showy and demonstrative, but always a 
warm sunshine of cordial good-will and considerate treatment around this 
loyal, loving brother. His smile was the glow of the fireside, his heart a safe 
refuge for any, a sacred retreat for all. . . . 

But whoever stood near enough to him, saw in his outlook upon life and 
eternity a radiance that shone on his work — " a light that never was on sea or 



64 



TRIBUTES. 



land." These are the prophecies of the perfect yet to be possessed. They 
came to him — gleams of unearthly beauty, strains of song, unspoken poems, 
— all in that wonderful temple of his inner life which to-day is heaven. 

The Rev. Dr. C. S. Vedder, pastor of the Huguenot 
church, Charleston, S. C, wrote of Dr. Baird in the 

Charleston News and Courier : 

Holy writ describes the dismay of a people : 1 ' They shall be as when a 
standard-bearer fainteth." One of the most beautiful and historic towns in 
the vicinity of New York City has learned, by pathetic experience, the mean- 
ing of these words. A standard-bearer has fainted and fallen among them, 
not in the shock, but with all the suddenness of the battle-field. 

Dr. Charles W. Baird, the man of ideal purity, gentleness and sweetness 
of spirit, cherished by those^who knew him with a love almost " passing the 
love of women," honored, trusted, and revered as few men ever have the 
happiness to be, by all of every class and creed among whom his guileless 
life was lived — the pastor, for a quarter of a century of one loving and be- 
loved flock, but so large in his sympathies and unstinted in his helpfulness 
that those of every other flock called and knew him as friend and brother — 
Dr. Charles W. Baird has ceased from among men, and the hush which has 
fallen upon the places and hearts that shall know him here no more is like 
that of the army when its standard-bearer falleth. 

The public journals of the great county of Westchester, New York, come 
to us in mourning for the loss of this greatly good man. They tell us that 
all business ceased, and men wandered aimlessly about the pleasant town of 
Rye, as though they had no heart for any thing but the thought of their 
bereavement, on the day that the good pastor was laid to his rest ; that the 
magnificent church edifice in which he had ministered — having all the pro- 
portions and majesty of a cathedral, and yet with every pew free to all, and 
largely occupied by the poor — could not contain the immense throngs that 
came to the burial ; that ministers of every denomination were present to 
bear testimony to the sense of personal and professional bereavement, 
and that the tribute of tender words and tears was such as to make the occa- 
sion memorable forever to those who were present. 

There is something in such an outpouring of feeling for the loss of one man 
in one community which may well concern every other man of every other 
community. It is such a recognition of the glory of one good life as will be 
helpful to make other lives good. But Charleston has other reason than this 
for taking to heart the loss of the gentle pastor of Rye. Dr. Baird had con- 
secrated his life to research in matters of peculiar interest to our city. He 
was known, from correspondence, to a large number of our citizens ; others 



TRIBUTES. 



65 



had been guests at the pleasant home of Dr. Baird. During this winter, he 
had proposed and promised to spend some time in Charleston, in verifying 
dates and securing new facts for his remaining volumes of " The Huguenot 
Emigration to America." Immediately after our calamity of the earthquake, 
and before appeal had been made, Dr. Baird had a collection, of large 
amount, raised in his church for a church of Charleston. 

For our ancient and dear city he had great interest, and even enthusiasm, 
and looked forward with fond anticipation to the time when he should visit 
its eventful scenes. A characteristic Charleston welcome awaited him. But 
it was not to be. Preparing a discourse for the Sabbath service on the 
Saturday preceding, February 5th, he seemed to have intimation that his rest 
was near. To his wife, who entered his study at that time, and who, noti- 
cing something wrong, asked as to his health, he complained of an affection of 
the head, and then added immediately, "But you know I am ready." 
With these words he laid down his pen and never spoke or knew aught 
again. On Thursday following, the end came. Charleston, denied the 
privilege of greeting him in its homes in life, asks to lay the simple tribute 
of her respect and heart-felt regret upon his tomb. It is over such a grave as 
his, in its relation to those who weep above it, that the words have meaning : 
" Then for the living be the tear, 
And for the dead, the smile. " 

The following Tribute from the pen of Rev. Charles E. 
Allison appear in the Yonkers Statesman, of Feb. 11, 
1887: 

The Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D., lies dead at Rye. He was a filial son, 
an affectionate brother, a devoted husband, a noble father, a pastor beloved, 
an earnest preacher of the everlasting gospel, a ripe scholar, a Christian 
gentlemen. Among his brother ministers he was as " the beloved disciple " 
among the apostles. He was an ensample to his flock. " When the ear 
heard him, then it blessed him, and when the eye saw him, it gave witness 
to him, because he delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless and him 
that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish 
came upon him and he caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. He put on 
righteousness and it clothed him ; his judgment was as a robe and a diadem. 
He was eyes to the blind and feet was he to the lame. He was a father to 
the poor and the cause which he knew not he searched out." 

His people walk about the streets of Rye and sit in their homes as if 
there were one dead in every house. The aged bow down and weep, and 
little children stop in the midst of their play. Those who knew him best 



66 



TRIBUTES. 



speak in subdued tones of his gentleness, his heavenly mind, his loving 
heart, his affection for all, and how by his lips and his life he helped them to 
know the Christ whose he was and whom he served. 

J. M. Ives, Esq., wrote in the Portchester Journal, under 
the heading " The Record of a Good Man's Life" : 

The truthful and eloquent eulogies pronounced at the funeral service of 
the late Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D., covered perhaps all that need be 
said in regard to his life and character. It may not, however, be amiss, 
that to these should be added an humble tribute from a pen which he often 
and kindly commended, and from a heart which, in many of its tastes, emo- 
tions, and sympathies, was responsive to his own. 

Amid the noise and bustle, the excitements and contentions of this busy 
world, we occasionally meet with men who, without asserting for them- 
selves any superiority, or striving to be conspicuous, occupy a wider sphere 
of usefulness, and exert a more commanding influence than the most ambi- 
tious and forward can ever attain ; and Dr. Baird was one of these. Obser- 
vant, thoughtful, and sympathetic, intensely interested in the welfare and 
well-being of his fellow-men, refined in manner, and gentle in speech, he 
possessed a quiet force that was recognized and respected in all the interests 
with which he was associated, as well as in the community of which he was 
a citizen. He was indeed a man of remarkable culture and courtesy, con- 
scientious in duty, firm in principle, tender in emotion, delicate in percep- 
tion, of a nature most harmoniously and admirably balanced and made up 
of rare and attractive qualities. 

In his office as a Christian minister, he was a man of earnest piety, who 
preached the gospel by example as well as by precept. His concern for the 
spiritual welfare of others was always manifest, though never intrusive ; 
there was an atmosphere of purity about him that was a charm to the good, 
and a rebuke to the vicious. His concern for the religious and moral train- 
ing of the young was as constant as his endeavor to establish them on the 
strong foundations of religious truth and to shape their minds in the direc- 
tion of the highest attainments. In his preaching, his pastoral admonition, 
and his frequent addresses to the graduates of the schools, he uniformly in- 
culcated the duty of making a thorough practical Christianity the life-gov- 
erning principle. In his churchmanship he was broad and catholic, and 
while properly conforming to the discipline and practice of his own, he 
often worshipped and communed with fellow-Christians of other denomi- 
nations and ministered at their altars ; and in like manner his parish work 
was not restricted within the boundaries of his own congregation ; the 
whole community recognized in him a man so helpful and consoling in ad- 



TRIBUTES. 



6 7 



versity and affliction, that many weary and heavy laden sought his counsel 
and sympathy, and were cheered by his words of comfort and hope. While 
thus continually devoting much time and attention to others, he was obser- 
vant of the slightest service rendered to his church or his people, and never 
failed to acknowledge it as a personal obligation. His presence brought 
peace, and left a charm in every household, and his visits, however brief, 
or infrequent they might necessarily be, were highly prized and appreciated 
by all who were privileged to receive them, and these were not limited to 
any sect, station, or condition in life. . . . 

As a citizen, Dr. Baird was an intensely patriotic and loyal man. A firm 
believer in the unity of the government, and its ardent supporter, he recog- 
nized the duty as well as the privilege of exercising the right of suffrage, 
and however distasteful and unpleasant the surroundings of the ballot-box, 
he never failed to come up to the poll and deposit his vote, determined 
that if good and proper men were not elected to office, it should be through 
no fault or neglect of his. He gave much time and thought to public mat- 
ters, not only in the government and State, but in the town and its sur- 
roundings. He endeavored by all means in his power to beautify and adorn 
it. He encouraged every effort to improve the physical and mental condition 
of its inhabitants, making it a point to be present at all literary and scientific 
entertainments, often, doubtless, at the sacrifice of his own rest and con- 
venience. His patriotism prompted his work of the history of the town 
and that of the Huguenot emigration, for he believed that a knowledge of 
the men and the incidents, the martyrs and the trials, the devotion and the 
sacrifice which preserved a free religious faith, and initiated a popular sys- 
tem of government, would stimulate the generations to come to value and 
maintain the blood-bought heritage. As he was known to all so he was be- 
loved by all, and as he passed along all shared his recognition and kindly 
greeting. We may aptly quote for him from the description of the good 
English vicar : 

** Even children followed with endearing wile, 
And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile." 

He has passed away from us at an age when we had reason to hope for 
many years of usefulness, yet with his life-work well rounded and completed. 
He has left the impress of his thought and culture upon many minds which 
now, and in the days to come, will rise up and call him blessed. We, his 
contemporaries, mourn that we shall see his face and hear his kindly voice no 
more, but we thank God for the privilege of having known him, and for all 
the pleasant associations which cluster around his memory, and make the 
world brighter and better because he lived in it. 



68 



TRIBUTES. 



Extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Session of 
the Rye Presbyterian Church, held March 21, 1887. 

It having pleased the great Head of the Church, our Heavenly Father, in 
His inscrutable wisdom, to take our pastor, the Rev. Charles W. Baird, 
D.D., honored and tenderly beloved, from the activities of this life to the 
glorious service of the Temple, not made with hands, and to the presence 
of the Lamb, who is the light thereof, — 

Resolved, That we, the Session of the Presbyterian Church of Rye, bow 
with profound grief, but humble submission, to the will of that Lord and 
Master, whose faithful servant he was. 

Resolved, That we cannot adequately convey, in words, our sense of loss, 
or fittingly express our appreciation of the honor and privilege we esteem it, 
to have been so long and intimately associated with one of such rare godliness 
of life and purity of character. He was an earnest follower of Christ, of 
singular modesty, of unfailing courtesy, a ripe scholar, a public-spirited 
citizen, loyal, gentle, and true — a Christian gentleman. 

Resolved, That in his death this church will ever mourn a faithful pastor, 
who loved God and preached truth and righteousness ; a judicious counsel- 
lor, pitiful to the weak, yearning after the erring, whose heart never wearied, 
whose hands never faltered in ministering to the wants of even the lowliest. 
It was his happiness to serve his people, also the community in which he 
dwelt, and they pray that they may so follow his teachings, so copy his 
example, that finishing their earthly course with joy, they may live with him 
unto God, forevermore. 

Resolved, That we tender to the family of our dear pastor our warmest 
sympathy, in this hour of deep sorrow and distress, and we pray that the 
precious Saviour will bring to their hearts the sustaining grace and comfort 
which they need. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the minutes of session, 
and that a copy of them, duly attested, be sent to Mrs. Baird. 

W. H. Parsons, 

Clerk of Session. 

Resolutions of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian 
Church of Rye, N. Y. 

At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of the 
town of Rye, held at the chapel Tuesday afternoon, February 22, 1887 (the 
regular quarterly meeting on the first Monday of February having been 
omitted on account of the illness of the pastor), the following preamble and 
resolutions were unanimously adopted : 



TRIBUTES. 



69 



Whereas, It has pleased God, in His all-wise Providence, to take unto 
Himself the beloved pastor of this church, the Reverend Charles W. Baird, 
D.D., whereby great sorrow and bereavement have fallen upon the church 
and congregation and the entire community ; and 

Whereas, It is customary and eminently fit that with devout submission 
to the will of God, some official commemoration should be made by us of his 
long and faithful Christian ministry here, and of his pure and holy charac- 
ter and virtues, which have endeared him to every one who knew him. Now 
therefore be it 

Resolved, That we are deeply grateful to God, the giver of every good and 
perfect gift, for the ministry of more than a quarter of a century, during 
which our pastor has been permitted to exercise his pure and gentle influence 
upon our lives and of those who have gone before him. None knew him but 
to love him. The poor, the humble, those of all degrees and stations in life 
and without respect to creed or denominational belief, in joy or sorrow, alike 
received his love and sympathy. In all times of affliction his comfort was 
ever ready and abundant, and out of every event in life he sought to draw a 
lesson to teach us the way to God. In the law of God did he meditate day 
and night. As a citizen he was patriotic and devoted to the right. As a 
scholar he was learned and most diligent in research, and in his printed works 
has left behind him models of painstaking and valuable accuracy, in which 
it seems as though nothing had been left undone to illustrate, exhaust, and 
adorn the subjects which he treated. 

In the pulpit, and in all the departments of pastoral life, he lived very near 
the hearts of his people, always preaching the very word of Christ, and sub- 
ordinating all that was of self, to the one grand and single end and aim of 
drawing his people to and keeping them with Christ ; setting before them 
meanwhile the example of a life pure and holy, and consistent with every 
truth which he taught. We feel that this is unusual eulogy, but that all who 
knew him will bear us witness that it is just and true. Of him it maybe said, 
with truest meaning, that he lived and was a Christian gentleman. 

Resolved, That his good works shall live after him, that his noble and 
gentle example remains for emulation, that the lives which he influenced so 
much for good shall show the results of his teaching, and that this church and 
congregation, with Divine assistance, shall strive to continue his labors. 

Resolved, That this minute be entered at length upon the records of the 
church, and a copy engrossed and presented to Mrs. Baird. 

William Life, Chairman. 
Edward B. Covvles, Secretary. 

Minute of the Presbytery of Westchester. 

At a meeting of the Presbytery of Westchester, held at Peekskill, April 
19, 1887, the following minute was adopted : 



7o 



TRIBUTES. 



Whereas, God in his Providence has taken from us our beloved brother 
and presbyter, Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D., the Presbytery of Westchester 
desires to place upon record its deep sense of affliction and loss in the re- 
moval of this brother beloved, Therefore 

Resolved (i), That in the death of Rev. Dr. Baird the members of this 
Presbytery experience, individually, the grief of a personal affliction and a 
profound sense of loss in the removal of one who occupied a central place 
in our hearts, and whose loving Christian fellowship has ever been to us an 
inspiration and a benediction. 

Resolved (2), That the Presbytery takes pleasure in recording not only its 
high appreciation of the qualities of personal character, the marked con- 
scientiousness and fidelity, as well as the Christian gentleness and urbanity 
which in so eminent a degree characterized our brother, but also of his 
faithfulness and the value of his influence, the wisdom of his counsels, and 
the fervor of his prayers, by which he contributed so much to the satisfac- 
tion and profit of our meetings of Presbytery. 

Resolved (3), That the Presbytery desires to express its sincere and heart- 
felt sympathy with the afflicted family circle, from which the beloved hus- 
band and father and brother has been taken, and also with the bereaved 
session and church and congregation from whom one of the best of friends 
and wisest of counsellors, as also one of the most laborious and faithful and 
efficient of pastors has been taken away. 

Resolved (4), That in the death of Dr. Baird the community and church 
at large have occasion to mourn the loss of one whose eminent and exact 
scholarship, and whose indefatigable diligence and industry have accom- 
plished much in the way of investigating and preserving important histori- 
cal facts, not only as pertaining to the churches of our own Presbytery and 
of our country, but whose investigations have been of great value to the 
church and country at large, and whose reputation and work as an historian 
has been not only an honor to the Presbytery, but of important service to 
the cause and kingdom of our Lord and Redeemer. 

Resolved (5), That these resolutions be placed upon the minutes of Pres- 
bytery, and a copy of them be sent to the family of our deceased brother. 

Attest — W. J. Cumming, 

Stated Clerk. 

From the minutes of the Synod of New York, in ses- 
sion in the city of Auburn, October 20, 1887. 

Extract from the report of the Committee on the His- 
tory of the Synod : 



TRIBUTES. 



71 



The Synod of New York at its last meeting appointed a committee con- 
sisting of Rev. Messrs. Charles W. Baird, Samuel M. Hopkins, and T. 
Ralston Smith, and Elders Walter Carter and Lewis H. Clark, " to prepare 
a history of the Synod and report the next year." This action was taken in 
accordance with the recommendation of the General Assembly 1 ' in view of 
the approaching one hundredth session in 1888." 

The lamented death, since the last meeting of the Synod, namely on the 
10th of February last, of the chairman of the committee, Dr. Charles 
Washington Baird, than whom none other in the Church could have been 
more fitly appointed to that work, has devolved upon the second member of 
the committee the preparation of the report. 

Charles W. Baird was the son of the late Dr. Robert Baird, whose emi- 
nent services in the cause of temperance and evangelization, both in Europe 
and America, make his name still familiar and dear to the Church. 

His mother was a lady of French family and Huguenot extraction, which, 
together with the fact of several years' early residence in Paris and Geneva, 
explains the source of his enthusiastic and highly successful researches into 
the history of French Protestantism, resulting finally in his admirable work 
in two volumes on the history of the Huguenot emigration to America. 

Completing, in 1852, his studies for the ministry at the New York Union 
Theological Seminary, he sailed immediately for Europe under appointment 
to take charge of the American Chapel in Rome. It was still the day (God 
be praised that we have witnessed its close !) of the Pope's temporal sover- 
eignty in Rome ; and Mr. Baird could preach the Gospel within the walls of 
that city, only under the protection of the American flag, and in the house 
of our then resident minister at the Papal court, Mr. Lewis Cass. Let us 
further praise God that that diplomatic line has expired, and that America 
has no longer any use for an ambassador in the Italian, peninsula, except at 
the court of the elected and constitutional ruler of united and emancipated 
Italy. 

Returning to this country Mr. Baird assumed, in 1861, the charge of the 
church in Rye, Westchester County, which for the twenty-six years follow- 
ing continued to be the scene of his labors. In the face of greatly impaired 
health and frequent acute suffering, Dr. Baird prosecuted not only his 
faithful pastoral work in this place, attended with a large blessing and fre- 
quent additions to the church, but engaged in literary activities demanding 
laborious and long-continued research. One of the earliest and best known 
of these (though published anonymously) was his collection of Presbyterian 
liturgies under the title of "Eutaxia." His residence among the French 
and Swiss Protestants, who have perpetuated in their worship the decorous 
and devotional forms left them by John Calvin and other leaders of the Re- 



72 



TRIBUTES. 



formed Church, led him to appreciate highly the "strength and beauty " 
there is in well-conducted services in which the people openly take part. 
This work, showing that the earliest Reformed Presbyterian churches wor- 
shipped by means of pre-composed forms, gave perhaps its first impulse to 
that strong and growing sentiment in our churches which demands some- 
thing more of dignity and propriety than heretofore in the conduct of our 
public devotional services. 

Several minor and local historical publications were followed at length by 
Dr. Baird's greatest history, the fruit of many years' toil, " The Huguenot 
Emigration to America," a book whose admirable typographic dress, from 
the publication house of Messrs. Dodd, Mead, & Co., fitly corresponds 
to the elegance and finish of the history itself. 

Of Dr. Baird's personal qualities, which endeared him so much to his 
friends and his brethren in the ministry, his uniform Christian gentleness 
and courtesy, his moderation and love of peace, and the sweet devoutness 
that colored all his words and actions, it is needless further here to speak. 
Multis ille bonis Jiebilis occidit. 

The committee trusts to the indulgence of the Synod in laying this brief 
tribute on the tomb of one who, had Providence spared his life, would with 
such eminent fitness have appeared as their historian on this occasion. 

Attest — T. Ralston Smith, 

Stated Clerk, Synod of N. Y. 

Memorial Minute of the Directors of Union Theologi- 
cal Seminary : 

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Semi- 
nary in the city of New York, held May io, 1887, the following minute was 
unanimously adopted : 

The Directors of the Union Theological Seminary desire to place on record 
their appreciation of the loss that the Seminary in common with the church at 
large has sustained in the death of the Rev. Charles Washington Baird, D.D., 
of Rye, N. Y., an Alumnus of the class of 1852, and for more than a year a 
member of this Board. Dr. Baird was born at Princeton, N. J., August 28, 
1828, was graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1848, was 
ordained to the gospel ministry by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and 
was for several years chaplain of the American congregation at Rome, 
Italy. He was afterwards pastor of a Reformed church in Brooklyn, and for 
more than twenty-five years preceding his death, which occurred February 
10, 1887, he was the beloved pastor of the Presbyterian church at Rye. 

Of distinguished parentage, Dr. Baird inherited characteristics that fitted 
him peculiarly for wide usefulness, and which, united with a ripe scholar- 



V 



TRIBUTES. 



73 



ship and a truly consecrated spirit, made him interesting and instructive as 
a preacher, and judicious and influential as a pastor. His contributions to 
literature manifested extensive research and conscientious study, while the 
purity of his style and his clearness in expression placed the results before 
his readers in most attractive form. 

Personally, he was singularly attractive, and by his gentleness of manner, 
his unfailing courtesy, and his quick appreciation of the character and needs 
of others, he made himself universally beloved. 

As an alumnus and a director of this institution he was faithful to all its 
interests. Punctual in his attendance upon the meetings of the Board, emi- 
nently wise in counsel and efficient in action, he will be greatly missed by 
his associates in office. 

In every department of life's duties he was a faithful, devoted servant of 
his divine Master, and the command to lay down his work on earth, although 
coming suddenly and unexpectedly, was to him but the summons to rest 
from his labors, and to enter into the joy of his Lord. 

To the bereaved church and family the members of this Board, in trans- 
mitting to them this tribute of respect and affection, would also tender the 
assurance of their heart-felt Christian sympathy. 

Resolutions of the Vestry of Christ Church, Rye, N. Y. 

At a special meeting of the vestry of Christ Church, Rye, held February 
II, 1887, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, It has pleased our Heavenly Father to remove from among us 
our beloved friend, the Reverend Charles W. Baird, D.D., pastor of the 
Presbyterian church at Rye, we, the rector, wardens, and vestrymen of Christ 
Church, Rye, have met together to testify to our sympathy in the bereave- 
ment which has befallen our town and county. For nearly twenty-six years, 
the term of his pastorate at Rye, Dr. Baird, by his exalted Christian char- 
acter, his active benevolence, his cordial sympathy and co-operation in 
every good work, his ever-ready and helpful ministrations to the poor, the 
sick, and the afflicted, has embalmed his memory in the hearts of all of our 
people. Although attached to his own church, he always manifested the 
most kindly interest in the welfare of ours, and in affliction we counted him 
a friend. 

Resolved, That the rector, wardens, and vestrymen of Christ Church, 
Rye, attend the funeral of the late Reverend Charles W. Baird, D.D., at 
the Presbyterian church, Rye, on Monday, February 14, 1887, at 2 
o'clock p.m. 

Resolved, That we hereby tender to the family of the deceased our sincere 
and heart-felt sympathy, and the assurance of the prayers by our church that 
God may sustain, strengthen, and support them by His gracious help. 



74 



TRIBUTES. 



Resolved, That the foregoing preamble and resolutions be entered in the 
minutes of the church, and that a copy of them be sent to the family of Dr. 



Action of the Huguenot Society of America: 

The Huguenot Society of America, since its last meeting, has heard with 
the deepest sorrow of the sudden death, on the ioth of February last, at his 
home in Rye, New York, of the Reverend Charles W. Baird, D.D., one of 
the few who originally met at the New York Historical Society's library to 
organize this Society, and the learned author of the " History of the Hugue- 
not Emigration to America," recently published. Dr. Baird was the first 
to arouse publicly the descendants of the Huguenots in America to the im- 
portance of preserving and perpetuating the early history and records of 
their French and Walloon ancestors. Upwards of twelve years before his 
death he called the attention of those of them in Westchester County and 
New York City to this subject in an address at White Plains before the 
Westchester County Historical Society, and which was repeated upon other 
occasions. 

He was the earliest to examine and study the ancient records of the French 
Church in this city, freely opened to him by the late rector of that church 
and its wardens and vestrymen, with the spirit, eye, intention, and hand of 
the historian. In like manner did he investigate those of New Rochelle 
and New Paltz in this State, and those of the Huguenot centres in the 
other old States, as well as the many private papers willingly laid before 
him. The results, in part, of these labors are now before the world in the 
two volumes aforenamed, which will ever remain a monument of his abil- 
ity and skill in this, his chosen field of historic research. 

Twice did he cross the ocean for no other purpose than to investigate and 
profit by the European sources of American Huguenot history. And this, 
too, of his own volition and at his own charge. Personally Dr. Baird was 
one of the most refined, retiring, and courteous of men, as well as one of 
the most winning. Firm in his convictions, gentle in his manners, sensitive 
in his feelings, he was ever the Christian gentleman, and the loved and 
trusted guide, counsellor, and friend. In placing this memorial notice 
upon its minutes, this Society bears witness to the great loss which, in 
common with all of Huguenot descent in America, it has sustained in his too 
early death, and adds its tribute, so justly due to his memory and his worth, 
in loving testimony of its appreciation of his early and successful labors in 
the field of American Huguenot history. Edward F. De Lancey, 



Baird. 



Thomas T. Sherman, 

Clerk pro -tern. 



B. F. De Costa, 



New York, April 13, 1887. 



Committee. 



TRIBUTES. 



75 



The Westchester County Historical Society, of which 
Rev. Dr. C. W. Baird was a vice-president, took the fol- 
lowing action at its annual meeting, October 28, 1887 : 

The Westchester County Historical Society places upon its records, with 
the deepest regret, this memorial notice of one of its earliest and most dis- 
tinguished members, who has passed from earth since its last meeting — the 
Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D.. of Rye. 

A divine of learning, devoted as a pastor, and a thorough gentleman, he 
enjoyed and merited the love and high respect, not only of his own people, 
but of all with whom he came in contact. 

As the historian of Rye in this county, and of the Huguenot emigration 
to America, he proved his ability and thoroughness of research, and full 
appreciation of his subjects, and his works will be regarded as among the 
most valuable for their interest, fulness of detail, and agreeable style, that 
have been issued from the American press. In other fields of literary work 
he was equally distinguished, and this Society will ever bear his memory in 
high honor and sincere regard. 



SERMONS. 



77 



I. 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 

Matt. xi. 28. 
" Take My yoke upon you.' 

Mark. x. 21. 
" Take up the cross." 

Here are two invitations to a duty — the duty of serv- 
ing Christ ; and here are two images of that service — 
the yoke, and the cross. It would not occur to any one 
of us to select either of these images for the purpose of 
an invitation. Both the objects named are uninviting, 
displeasing. The yoke, as it was in use in our Saviour's 
time, and as it is still used in Eastern countries, a heavy 
wooden frame, designed for beasts of labor. And the 
cross, familiar to the Jews in our Saviour's day, though a 
Roman and not a Jewish instrument of death, a heavy 
wooden frame designed for condemned criminals. Both 
of these objects were burdensome. Both were imposed, 
unwillingly endured, never assumed. The yoke was put 
upon the neck. The cross was laid on the shoulders, and 
carried by the criminal, or by some one acting for him, to 
the place of crucifixion. " Him they compelled to bear 
his cross." 

The first thing then that we notice in these sayings of 
Christ is the seeming contradiction involved in each of 

79 



8o 



SERMONS. 



them. Each contains a double paradox, or seeming con- 
tradiction. First, in the command, Take My yoke, Take 
the cross. Submit, we should rather expect to hear it 
said, in connection with figures like these, yield to the 
yoke, the cross ; not, assume it, lay hold upon it, appro- 
priate it. And secondly, in the design of the command. 
The yoke is for labor. All its associations are with toil 
hard and strenuous work. Yet Christ bids us take it in 
order to rest. Ye shall find rest unto your souls. The 
cross is for suffering and death. All its associations are 
with pain and sacrifice. Yet Christ says to the young man 
who comes to Him asking, what shall I do that I may have 
eternal life ? take up the cross ; choose that, and you 
choose eternal life. 

Thus we see that these sayings of our Lord, have 
this in common with each other, that they present to us 
a great duty in a very striking form. The duty, I repeat, 
is that of giving ourselves to His service, submitting our- 
selves, freely and gladly, to the obedience of His will, fol- 
lowing Him in a path of self-denial. And the paradox^ 
the seeming contradiction involved in the use of the 
strong figure employed in each case to set forth this idea, 
stamps the thought upon the mind in a form most definite. 
" Take My yoke upon you. Take up the cross." 

Another fact to be noticed is that these are the only 
sayings of Jesus in which that duty is thus stated. We 
meet with no other images in the Gospel, of submission to 
Christ, obedience to His will, self-denial for His sake, at 
all analogous to these in our text. The yoke and the 
cross are the two chosen emblems of His service. And 
the command coupled with these images — " Take My 
yoke upon you, take up the cross " — is like nothing 
else in the Saviour's teachings. 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 



81 



Again, these sayings of Christ have this in common 
with each other, that the object mentioned by the Saviour 
is in each case an object identified with Himself, to 
receive which is to come into fellowship with Him. Take 
My yoke upon you. Share this service, this toil, with 
Me. Take up the cross — the cross that speaks of My 
sufferings and death. Each of these objects is His. And 
to appropriate it is to be brought into a close relation and 
companionship with Christ. 

Again, these two invitations of Christ to men have 
this in common, that both were addressed to persons in 
whom the Saviour was deeply interested, whom He was 
exceedingly anxious to win to His service, and who 
seemed peculiarly susceptible to His persuasions, and 
very likely to be influenced by them. You remember in 
what connection it was that Jesus spoke to men of His 
service as a yoke. Come, He said to those among the 
multitudes whom He saw to be unsatisfied, unhappy, 
longing for inward peace, and weary of seeking that 
peace through the outward forms of a ceremonial reli- 
gion. " Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy- 
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon 
you." And you remember on what occasion it was that 
Christ spoke to a man of His service as a cross : when 
one came running, and kneeled to Him, and asked with 
such earnestness and ingenuousness, What shall I do 
that I may inherit eternal life? " Come," said Jesus, 
beholding him with a love that sought his salvation, 
" take up the cross and follow Me." 

But now with these points of correspondence, there 
are certain points of marked difference between these 
sayings of Christ, which I shall ask you to consider also. 
And first, the Lord Jesus spoke to men of bearing His 



82 



SERMONS. 



yoke, before He mentioned His cross to them. It was 
many months after that invitation addressed to the 
laboring and the heavy-laden, in which He used the 
former of these emblems, that Jesus began to show unto 
His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and 
suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and 
scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day ; 
and that for the first time He made use of this image of 
His sufferings and death, the cross, as an emblem of the 
self-denial that would be necessary in the case of every 
one who should follow Him. The yoke preceded the 
cross in the order of Christ's teachings as we have them 
in the Gospels. And so, we may remark, in the order of 
the Saviour's dealings with us, the duty of submitting 
to Christ comes first. Take His yoke upon you, and 
learn of Him. This is the first thing to do. What 
there will be for you of cross-bearing you cannot foresee 
now. The present, the immediate duty for you, is to as- 
sume His yoke. 

In the second place, I remark that the Lord Jesus 
spoke to men of bearing His yoke in terms which 
He never used when He spoke of bearing the cross. He 
said : " My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." 
Those who come to Him to seek rest, in submitting to 
His authority and will, find it so. Love to Him makes 
it pleasant to obey Him. His commands indeed are no 
other than those which once seemed irksome and dis- 
pleasing when the heart had not yielded to God. But 
now that the heart is changed, now that it feels a Sa- 
viour's love, duty ceases to be viewed as repugnant, 
hateful. For the sinful nature indeed that has not been 
utterly destroyed, it will still be what it was, hard and 
against the grain. But for the new man, the nature that 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 



83 



has been created in you by God's good spirit, duty is 
light, and grace makes the doing of it easy. But observe 
that Christ never spoke of His cross as light, or of cross- 
bearing as easy. It is not joyous but grievous. Religion 
in one of its aspects is stern and trying. Strait is the 
gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life. 
There are struggles with sin that are like resisting unto 
blood. There are self-denials that are like plucking out 
an eye or parting with very life. Christ does not call 
these things easy. 

Thirdly, let us notice that of the two images before 
us, and of the ideas that are connected with them, the 
one was much more familiar to our Lord's hearers 
than the other. It was far less difficult to understand 
Him when He spoke of taking on a yoke, than when He 
spoke of taking up a cross. The Jews could not be sur- 
prised when the Saviour referred to His service under 
this name. They themselves were in the habit of speak- 
ing of their religious law, the ceremonial law of Moses, 
as it was interpreted to them by the Scribes and Pharisees, 
as a yoke, and they were accustomed to this image as an 
emblem also of political subjection. At this very time, 
the iron yoke of Roman despotism was resting upon their 
nation, just as in former ages their fathers had groaned 
under the burden of the Assyrian and Babylonian rule. 
Besides, they were familiar with this image, as it frequent- 
ly appeared in their Scriptures. God said to His people, 
when He had brought them forth out of Egypt: " I have 
broken the bands of your yoke." The Jews were warned 
by Moses, that if they should forsake the Lord, He would 
put a yoke of iron upon their neck, till He should have 
destroyed them. Isaiah prophesied of the coming of 
Christ, to break the yoke of His people's burden. Jere- 



8 4 



SERMONS. 



miah was directed of God to make yokes, and send them 
to the kings of Edom and Moab and other neighboring 
nations, with a message from God bidding them submit 
to the king of Babylon and serve him, until the time 
should come for the downfall of that kingdom. All men 
know that such yoke-bearing, whether for individuals or 
for nations, though it may not be pleasant, is often neces- 
sary and useful. Human nature needs restraints, and 
God in His wisdom sees to it that we shall have them. 
Providence lays them upon us, and whilst the yoke is not 
of our choosing, often the safest and best thing for us to 
do is to submit to it. Hananiah, the false prophet, took 
the yoke which Jeremiah had placed upon his own neck, 
as a sign to his people that they must submit to the 
dominion of the king of Babylon, and broke it in the 
presence of all the people, and said : "Thus saith the 
Lord, even thus will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, 
king of Babylon, from the neck of all nations within the 
space of two full years." But God sent word to him : 
" Thou hast broken the yoke of wood, but I have put a 
yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations." Often 
the very worst thing that could befall us would be the 
sudden removal of providential checks and burdens from 
us, a sudden emancipation from bonds which we have 
thought severe, a freedom to act our own pleasure and 
serve our own ends. How many have lived to testify to 
the truth of the prophet's words : " It is good for a man 
that he bear the yoke in his youth." Better a strict rule 
than no rule. Better a stern, hard discipline than law- 
lessness. For the heaviest, sorest yoke that can be laid 
upon us, is the yoke of Satan's service ; and when the 
sinner thinks himself most free, to find his happiness in 
the pleasures of sin, he is most a slave. 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 



85 



I say, then, that in using this image to represent His 
service, our Lord employed language very familiar to 
His hearers, and very clear, I add, to us. Submit we 
must in this life, and as the finite and mortal beings 
that we are, to discipline, to restraint, to bounds and 
limitations that may fitly be likened to a yoke. There 
is no escape for us, no choice between service and free- 
dom ; but ah ! we have a choice as to the service. The 
Lord Jesus Christ invites us to choose His service, and 
tells us that in so doing we shall find rest for our souls. 
In every other service, under every other yoke, we shall 
experience, sooner or later, dissatisfaction, weariness, un- 
rest. It may be from no fault in the service. You are 
tied down to business. It is an honest, a useful employ- 
ment to which Providence has manifestly called you, and 
in which Providence manifestly detains you. But you 
chafe under its burdens and amid its restrictions ; you 
weary of its monotony; you droop under its narrow and 
low prospects ; you are disappointed with its poor and 
mean rewards. Or, though the occupation be congenial, 
and though prospered in it beyond all expectation, still, 
it is in vain that you seek in its gains and profits the rest 
and the peace of soul for which you secretly thirst. 
" The world can never give the peace for which we sigh." 
Much more, if the service be in itself sinful, if the yoke 
be the yoke of self-indulgence, of sensuality, of grasping 
covetousnesss, much more must there be discord in the 
soul, from an outraged conscience and from opposition 
to a holy God. But Christ says : " Take My yoke upon 
you. Come to Me for rest. In My service you shall have 
peace with God, and peace with self, and peace with na- 
ture, and peace with all the orderings and appointments 
of Providence." Your yoke, your burden, the pressure 



86 



SERMONS. 



of which you will feel in your daily duties and under your 
daily trials — it will not be the claims of business, the ne- 
cessities of your position, the force of circumstances, the 
responsibilities of life, so much as Christ's service, into 
which duties and trials and responsibilities shall all re- 
solve themselves ; and though you seem to be the busy, 
toil-worn man of trade, or the patient worker in the home, 
you shall have it to say: " I serve the Lord Christ " ; and 
you shall be able to testify, His yoke is easy, and His 
burden is light. 

But the cross was no such familiar object to those who 
heard it mentioned in the Saviour's later teachings. It 
was an unusual, a mysterious, and an awful emblem ; and 
such it continued to be when men came to understand 
its meaning, and to see that it represented the trials, the 
sacrifices, the self-denials of the Christian life. 

Once more, I remark, our best preparation for the trials 
and self-denials that may await us in the Christian life, is 
to be found in meek submission to the Saviour, and sim- 
ple obedience to His commands. The easy yoke will 
prepare us for the hard and painful cross. Sometimes, it 
is true, difficulties and sufferings meet the disciple at the 
threshold of the Christian's life, and the first step he takes, 
in following the Saviour, is the step that costs the most 
of sacrifice and self-renouncement. So the convert from 
heathenism has often found it, when all the ties of nature, 
and all the bonds of friendship held him back from Christ, 
and only by a wrench that seemed to tear the heart 
asunder could he break away from the old life and free 
himself to serve the Lord ; and so Christ set His service 
before the rich young man, who was so wedded to his 
possessions, and so encased in his self-righteousness, that 
the only hope to win him to that service was by setting 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 



87 



before him at once its stern requirements, and calling up 
the cross. But more usually, under the preaching of the 
Gospel, and amidst the influences of religion, the invita- 
tion that goes forth to men, is to take Christ's yoke upon 
them, to yield their hearts to Him, to engage at once in 
the work of doing His will, and accustom themselves to 
His service. More usually, the dealings of God with the 
young especially are very gentle and gracious ; and whilst 
He bids them count the cost of entering upon that ser- 
vice, and forsaking the service of a sinful world, it is the 
yoke and not the cross which they have in present, im- 
mediate view. God in His providence so orders it that 
they may first learn the sweet lesson of submission to 
Jesus, of believing in Him as their Redeemer and obeying 
Him as their Master, and experiencing the happiness of 
serving Him in all things, and enjoying the blessed free- 
dom that He gives from the service of sin, and the heavy 
burden of care, and the weary effort to work out their 
own righteousness; before they shall know much of re- 
ligion as a cross ; before any great sacrifices will be de- 
manded of them ; before any fierce temptations will assail 
them ; before they shall have to drink deep in the cup of 
sorrow. And this, dear friends, is a very merciful arrange- 
ment of our loving Saviour. O how tenderly and how 
beseechingly He says now to you in the morning of life, 
comparatively shielded from the troubles of life, and yet 
really burdened with sin, and needing to be delivered 
from the bondage of Satan, and from the accusings of a 
conscience that is not at peace, Come unto Me, and take 
My yoke upon you ! What are all these dealings of your 
heavenly Father with you, dealings peculiarly gentle and 
gracious, but opportunities to engage in this good ser- 
vice, to accustom yourself to this light and easy yoke, to 



88 



SERMONS. 



acquaint yourself with this kind Master, to exercise your- 
self in the daily and common duties of the Christian life 
that you may be prepared for the stern trials, the sharp 
conflicts, the bitter sacrifices that maybe to come? I do 
not say that God has promised to keep the cross faraway 
out of your sight, even for the present. Very possibly 
you may see something of it now. Christ gave intima- 
tions of His own approaching sufferings to His disciples 
long before He began to speak to them plainly on 
the subject. He told Nicodemus, who came to Him 
by night, in strange and mysterious language, of some 
future provision for saving men ; of the lifting up of the 
Son of man, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, long before He even mentioned the cross to Peter 
and James and John. And so for the young Christian 
there may be some early foretaste of the trials and self- 
denials that he must needs endure if faithful to his 
Saviour ; and he must count the cost. He must give 
himself to Christ for all time and all eternity, and for 
every service and every experience that may be in keep- 
ing for him. He must be willing to take up his cross 
now. Self is to be denied, sin is to be crucified from 
the first. "Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come 
after Me cannot," says Christ, " be My disciple." But as 
yet probably it is only a dim and remote conception to 
you, this cross-bearing, this endurance of great trial, 
much suffering, for Jesus' sake. What you have to do 
now is chiefly to bear His yoke. O, see to it that you 
do that, and do it faithfully and heartily ! Learn to ac- 
cept all duties as part of Christ's service. Home duties, 
week-day duties, Sabbath and sanctuary duties, labors in 
the Sabbath-school, secret prayer, Bible study, daily and 
hourly watching over the life, deeds of kindness towards 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 



8 9 



others, gifts to the poor and to the Church and Kingdom 
of Christ — learn to accept all these things as forming 
part of the service which He invites you to render Him, 
and which you promised to render Him when you took 
His yoke upon you. Do not call these duties crosses. 
Cross-bearing is another thing. Ah ! you will know the 
cross when it comes — when the Master sees fit to lay it 
upon you. That cross may be bitter reproach for His 
sake. It may be chronic infirmity or acute suffering. It 
may be the giving up of cherished plans and purposes, 
and the taking up of unwelcome and difficult duties. It 
may be the fight with temptation, the resisting unto 
blood, striving against sin. But the practice of these 
quiet duties of the home life, and the daily calling, and 
the Sabbath and the secret walks with God — this is bear- 
ing the yoke of Jesus ; and it is an easy yoke. Easy, 
not to our selfish and corrupt nature, that rebels against 
any work that is not in harmony with its evil inclinations, 
but easy to that in you that loves Christ and desires to 
be holy ; easy to the new man, which is renewed after 
the image of that Saviour, and wants to grow more and 
more like Him. And the faithful bearing of this yoke 
will prepare you to endure the cross when God shall send 
it. Learning of Jesus, as thus you strive humbly to 
serve Him in lowly, quiet ways, submission, obedience, 
will bring you so close to Him, into such sweet and blessed 
sympathy with Him, that when trial comes it will be 
found that nothing can separate you from His love. 
Neither life nor death, nor things present nor things to 
come, shall be able to separate you from the love of God 
which is Christ Jesus your Lord. 

Follow the disciple who has grown accustomed to the 
Master's yoke into the world of temptation. Follow him 



9 o 



SERMONS. 



into the valley of affliction and the shadow of death, and 
will he deny the Lord who bought him, when the light 
burden of His services is exchanged for the heavy cross? 
The young Christian goes forth from the home where he 
has felt the gentle constraint of holy influences, from the 
Christian fold, where he has become well acquainted with 
the Shepherd's voice. He goes forth with grateful love 
and humble confidence towards his Redeemer, to find 
himself surrounded, in strange scenes, by those who make 
a mock at sin; to find himself beset with persuasions 
and enticements to evil, and with the mightier arguments 
of scorn and ridicule of all that is good. What better 
preparation could he have for that great trial of principle, 
that heavy cross, than the bearing of his Saviour's yoke 
in the times of his security and peace ? The Christian 
who has led a life singularly placid and prospered, with 
few experiences that could be called crosses, but steadily 
and earnestly striving to bear the yoke of submission and 
obedience to his dear Lord, is suddenly brought to know 
severe suffering or fierce temptation or crushing affliction. 
What better preparation could there have been for him 
against that hour than the long acquaintance with Jesus 
and His service which he has been enabled to gain while 
wearing that yoke. " Eighty and six years have I served 
Him, and He hath never wronged me," said Polycarp, the 
early martyr, when commanded to renounce his faith in 
Christ, that he might escape the flames; "and shall I 
deny Him now? You threaten me in vain." 

Blessed yoke of Jesus ! may we bear it willingly, cheer- 
fully, and be ready for the cross, when it shall please Him 
to send it, that we may honor Him in His own appointed 
way ! 

Blessed religion of the Lord Jesus Christ ! so beautifully 



THE YOKE AND THE CROSS. 



9 1 



adapted to our wants ; so admirably suited to this life of 
ours, that flows on uniformly and quietly, and unevent- 
fully, and that yet has its great emergencies, its great 
catastrophes ; a life to live which, we need daily guidance 
and discipline, and preparation too for the great trials 
and perils, and for the end that surely cometh ! 

What folly and what guilt to reject such a Friend and 
Saviour as the Lord Jesus Christ, whose yoke is easy and 
whose burden is light ! 



II. 



GO AND SEE. 

Mark vi. 38. 

" He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? Go and see." 

Five thousand men, besides women and children, were 
gathered in a lonely spot, east of the Lake of Galilee, far 
from town or village. They had been listening for many 
hours in rapt attention to the words of the Lord Jesus ; 
and He, moved even more than usually with compassion 
at the sight of so great a multitude, so ignorant, so de- 
pendent, so like unto sheep not having a shepherd, seemed 
as indifferent as they to the lapse of time. But the sun 
was now sinking behind the hills of Naphtali, and the 
shadows were lengthening across the little plain where 
they were met. The disciples are the first to notice the 
approach of evening, and to bethink themselves of the 
necessities of the hour. They venture to interrupt their 
Lord, and remind Him : " This is a desert place, and the 
time is far passed ; send the multitude away, that they 
may go into the country round about, and buy them- 
selves bread." Jesus " knew what He would do"; but 
His purpose of mercy toward the famished multitude was 
a purpose also of wise instruction for His disciples. Be- 
fore resorting to the expedient of His omnipotence to 
meet the exigency of the occasion, He sets them upon 

92 



GO AND SEE. 



93 



contriving how to meet that exigency with their own 
narrow devices and slender resources. He fastens upon 
them their responsibility in the matter. And He 
answered and said unto them : "They need not depart ; 
give ye them to eat." At the same time, calling to Him 
one of the disciples, Philip of Bethsaida, who was a native 
of that region, and might therefore be supposed to be 
better acquainted than the rest with the ways and means 
for the supply of this urgent want, He said unto him, 
" Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat ? " Philip, 
making a rough estimate of the numbers present, pro- 
nounced the plan impracticable. Two hundred penny- 
worth of bread — a sum much beyond their collective 
means — would not begin to satisfy the hunger of so many. 
Clearly the people must be sent away, to shift for them- 
selves. But this thought was one which the Master 
would not entertain for a moment. He will hold His 
disciples to the duty. They must provide for the neces- 
sities of this multitude. If they cannot buy bread for 
them, they must give them what they have, be it ever so 
little. And so, dropping the plan of supply by purchase, 
and following up His first startling suggestion, ''Give ye 
them to eat," He asks them, " How many loaves have ye ? 
Go and see." 

" Go and see." It is possible that these words may 
have been added to the question, in order to prevent a 
hasty and inexact reply. The disciples were doubtless 
ready with the answer. " We have none. We brought 
no bread along with us. We came on short notice and 
in secret with Thee to this desert place, not expecting to 
remain here so long, and we have no provisions, or none 
worth mentioning." The answer would have been natural, 
and it would have been true, so far as their knowledge at 



94 



SERMONS. 



the moment extended. For it was only upon inquiry 
that one of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, 
learned what he hastened to report to the Master: 
" There is a lad here, which hath five barley-loaves, and 
two small fishes; but what are they," he added, "among 
so many?" What, indeed. These loaves were little 
cakes, three of which were required for the meal of a 
single person; and the whole stock of the young com- 
missary would not have exceeded the want of one hungry 
man at that late hour of the day. It was to draw out 
this fact, which Andrew thought so slight and insignifi- 
cant, that our Lord added to the question, " How many 
loaves have ye?" the command, " Go and see." 

Our Lord Jesus Christ was a wise and faithful Teacher ; 
and one aim which He had in view in training His dis- 
ciples while He had them with Him, was to form them to 
habits of great accuracy in ascertaining and reporting 
facts. They were to be His witnesses; and what could 
be more important than that they should become accus- 
tomed to careful observation and investigation with re- 
gard to the facts which they were to proclaim abroad, and 
reduce to writing, for the benefit of coming generations — 
the facts concerning His person and character and work? 
They were His people; and how necessary that they 
should resemble Him and represent Him to the world in 
that feature of His character which is one of its highest 
excellencies — His truthfulness, His unswerving, unfalter- 
ing fidelity to the truth! Just such representatives and 
witnesses of Christ these disciples came to be. And it is 
our great satisfaction, in reading these Gospels which 
were written by some of them, and which contain their 
testimony as to the facts of the Saviour's history, to know 
not only that these men were inspired of God to relate 



GO AND SEE. 



95 



these things, and were preserved from any error or mis- 
take by His controlling Spirit, but also that as men they 
were honest, intent upon adhering strictly and invariably 
to the truth ; men who had ample opportunity to ascer- 
tain the facts which they relate, and who made full use 
of their opportunity. Our text illustrates the Saviour's 
method in training His disciples to this office. It was a 
caution to them against haste and heedlessness in the 
statement of fact. And as such a caution we may take it 
to ourselves. We need, every one of us, to beware of a 
disregard, an indifference to truth, showing itself in loose 
and random and unguarded statements upon any subjects 
of our thought and conversation. It matters not, in this 
view, whether the subject be religious or secular, serious 
or trivial, involving great and important issues, or only 
the interests of the passing hour. Truth is one ; and we 
are bound to be, always and in all things, witnesses for 
the truth. The truth is a trust : and one to which the 
Master's word may be applied, " He that is faithful in 
that which is least is faithful also in much." Study then 
to be sincere and accurate in all representations of fact. 
Cherish. I would say especially to the young (and em- 
phatically to the youth who are here seeking mental im- 
provement and preparation for a future honorable career 
in life), cherish as of the first importance the habit of ex- 
act thinking and exact speaking: the habit of a scrupu- 
lous adherence to truth ; the habit of seeking to know and 
seeking to testify only that which is real. Cultivate that 
profound reverence for truth that will seal the lips to all 
exaggeration and petty falsification, as well as shield the 
mind from prejudice and wilful error. Old and young, 
we may all profit by the caution of our text : a caution 
against any violation of truth, resulting from inattention 



9 6 



SERMONS. 



to facts which may be ascertained. The apostle Paul 
drew a picture of actual life, which may be recognized as 
readily in our day as it might be in his, when he spoke of 
certain men as " understanding neither what they say, 
nor whereof they affirm." How many such there are, 
and how much of the vain and foolish conversation com- 
mon among men may be traced to this source ! How 
much of misstatement and misrepresentation, how much 
of scandal and calumny, and of pernicious error, would 
be prevented by that care which Christianity bids its fol- 
lowers exercise, to prove all things, to verify the facts, to 
give no currency to a lie, though the lie may seem to be 
but a trifle ! " Go and see," said Jesus, before His dis- 
ciples could have time to answer the question, " How 
many loaves have ye." " Go and see. Take your time 
and ascertain. Make sure that you are right." And when 
they knew, they said, " Five, and two fishes." It was a 
lesson of exactitude. 

But secondly, it was a lesson as to their responsibility. 
The question without the command would simply have 
drawn the attention of the disciples to the smallness of 
their resources, the emptiness of their common fund. 
But the command led them on to the discovery that they 
had something to give the multitude. It was very little, 
but it was enough to constitute them the stewards of 
God's bounty, to supply the wants of their hungry fellow- 
men. It was little, but it was enough to take from them 
the plea of utter inability; enough to silence the request 
of selfishness: "Send the multitude away, that they may 
go and buy themselves bread." 

Such a lesson, my friends, the Lord would teach His 
people now ; and I have chosen the words of my text 
chiefly with the hope that I might impress it upon your 



GO AND SEE. 



97 



hearts and have it impressed upon my own heart. There 
is a lesson we all need to learn as to our individual re- 
sponsibility and our responsibility as a Christian church, 
to feed others with the bread of life, and to seek at the 
same time to be fed ourselves. Every Christian has re- 
sources of usefulness at his command which he is called 
upon to devote to the service of his God and the good 
of his fellow-men. We are living in a world where men 
are hungering for spiritual food ; hungering, though they 
know it not, for the knowledge, the strength, the peace 
and comfort which the Gospel only can give. And God 
says to every child of His who stands amid this throng of 
the famishing and perishing : " Give ye them to eat ; there 
is no other way in which they can be fed. There are no 
other agencies at work for their supply. They are left 
to you to be cared for. You cannot send them away. 
You cannot let them pass from your reach and influence 
without fearful guilt to yourself and utter ruin to them. 
" Give ye them to eat." Now there perhaps is no impulse 
more natural and more universal among the professed 
disciples of the Saviour than the impulse to disclaim the 
ability to meet this demand. The Christian is ready to 
say, in his timidity, his self-distrust, his conscious weak- 
ness and ignorance and inexperience : " I have nothing 
to give ; no stores of knowledge to open ; no wisdom to 
impart ; no eloquence with which to plead with men for 
my Saviour ; no force of character to bring to bear upon 
them ; and no time, no leisure to devote to the work; 
and no wealth, no means to consecrate to the service of 
my God." Now it is not for us to say how far this lan- 
guage of self-depreciation is prompted by a genuine 
sense of deficiency and unfitness, or how far it springs 
from our native selfishness and indolence. Good men 



9 8 



SERMONS. 



have breathed such confessions of their weakness and 
ignorance and want of skill. Moses prayed the Lord to 
let him off from his errand as His messenger; for he 
said : " I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." And 
more than one of God's prophets sought to be excused 
from duty on some such plea of insufficiency. But in 
every such case, my brethren, the question needs to be 
pressed upon the conscience and the reason of God's 
servant, " Is it so ? Have no talents been lodged with 
thee by thy Maker? Go and see." 

We may take this direction as applying to the temporal 
resources of the Church and the individual Christian. The 
demands that are made in our days upon the Church for 
help to spread the Gospel throughout the world are many 
and great. And they are not likely to diminish in the 
future in frequency and urgency, but rather to increase. 
The Gospel is gaining access, more and more widely, 
to the millions in heathen lands to whom Christ would 
have it carried ; and to accomplish this, the efforts of His 
people must be redoubled, their gifts must be larger, their 
sacrifices for His cause more noble and cheerful. It is 
perhaps the first impulse of a Christian congregation to 
question the possibility of such enlargement. The Church 
can barely sustain its own institutions. The Christian 
can scarcely meet his own individual obligations. How 
shall these growing demands of the cause of missions be 
met? What shall be the Church's response to the call 
that comes from India, from China, from Japan, from the 
heathen at our doors in New Mexico, from the freedmen 
within our border? My brethren, surely we can hear the 
Master's voice, saying — as He bends compassionately over 
these millions who are as sheep not having a shepherd — 
saying to us, as He said to the Twelve : " How many 



GO AND SEE. 



99 



loaves have ye ? What means, what resources, can ye 
bring forth — what self-denials can ye exercise for My 
sake, and for the sakes of these perishing ones? Go and 
see. Survey, in the light of this great emergency, your 
possessions, your blessings, and ascertain whether there is 
not something more that a disciple of Mine can do, to 
spread My gospel, and to save the souls for whom I 
died." 

Still more manifestly, we may take this direction as ap- 
plying to the spiritual resources of the Church. There are 
times when the people of God seem called upon to con- 
sider what they are doing, and what in His providence 
they are called upon to do, for the advancement of His 
kingdom, within their own immediate field of activity. 
Perhaps it is the impulse of diffidence or of indolence 
to say : "We can do no more than we are attempting 
now. We have barely enough of strength to keep up the 
efforts already undertaken — to maintain the prayer-meet- 
ing, the Sabbath-school, the missionary work. We must 
be content if we can preserve these agencies of good from 
drooping and dying out ; content to hold on the even 
tenor of our way. Our spiritual, even as our financial re- 
sources, are less than they have been. We have fewer to 
take the lead, and fewer to follow, in any effort that 
looks to the saving of souls around us." It would be 
sad, my brethren, if as a Church we were to indulge in 
thoughts like these ; and more sad still if our faithful 
Saviour, who is the Head of the Church, should suffer 
these excuses from duty to pass unrebuked. But no — 
His word to us, as it was to His disciples, is, "Go and 
see." Is it true that we, as a people, can do no more to 
benefit our-fellow men and serve our Master than we are 
actually doing? Is it true that all the talents have been 



L 



IOO 



SERMONS. 



put to use — that all the efficiency of the Church has been 
exerted — that all the methods of doing good have been 
tried — that there are none who can be persuaded to work 
for God — none who can be induced to speak for Christ ? 
Let us resolve at least that such a conclusion shall not be 
reached without thorough and earnest and prayerful con- 
sideration. 

But the Church is made up of individual members, and 
an inquiry into the resources of the Church, its spiritual 
resources, means after all an inquiry as to the ability of 
its individual members for doing good, by living to the 
glory of God, and striving to bless others. And this in- 
quiry, my friends, can be conducted only by Christians 
themselves, each one listening for himself, for herself, 
to the Saviour's questions : " How much of power and 
of opportunity for doing good do ye possess ? What can 
you do, to feed my perishing ones with the bread of 
life ? " and each also heeding the command that comes 
along with the question : " Go and see." Do not reply 
heedlessly. Take time to think. Do what the man of 
business does, be he ever so hurried and crowded. Take 
account of stock. Investigate your resources. Now we 
all know full well the answer that springs to the lips — 
Moses' answer — Isaiah's answer — Jeremiah's answer: 
" Ah, Lord God ! behold, I cannot speak — I cannot 
work for Thee — for I am a child — only a child in spirit- 
ual knowledge and experience, unfit to benefit others, 
needing myself to be taught and warned and encouraged. 
I am pressed with business cares, and have no time. I am 
burdened with troubles ; and have no heart for the work." 

But again the command comes : " Go and see." This 
church is composed of persons, very many of whom have 
been brought up in homes of piety, and have learned the 



GO AND SEE. 



101 



truth of religion from the precepts and examples of godly 
parents ; persons, very many of whom have been trained 
in the Sabbath-school, and have lived under the preach- 
ing of the Gospel all their lives. And is it so, that one 
who has enjoyed these advantages can have nothing to 
impart of the knowledge of eternal life to those who 
know not the love of Christ ? But, moreover, this church 
is made up very largely of persons who have been taught 
of God in the school of affliction. What they have 
learned of religious truth from parents and teachers and 
pastors has been written over by the sharp trials that 
trace indelible lines upon the tablets of the heart. 
They have proved — oh, yes, blessed be God ! they have 
proved the reality of religion by its power to uphold in 
the dark valley and the deep waters. They have found 
Christ present and precious when other friends were 
taken and other props gave way. They know God's 
great and precious promises as none can know them 
until they have leaned on them the whole weight of their 
distress and anguish. They have seen heaven open to 
receive dear ones who have gone home in the confidence 
of an unshaken hope, and the Father's house of many 
mansions is a reality to them. And they have learned 
the emptiness and worthlessness of sinful pleasures, and 
the wretchedness of a life without God, by the strong 
contrast of the Christian's peace in the midst of trouble, 
the Christian's prospect of a glory soon to be revealed, 
with the miserable portion of one who is a stranger to 
God. Oh, then, do you not see it, children of sorrow, 
tried and afflicted disciples of Jesus, these are experi- 
ences that are worth owning, and that are worth using? 
Can you plead that you have nothing for Christ's ser- 
vice, when He has enriched you with these dearly- 



102 



SERMONS. 



bought and priceless advantages ; these recollections of a 
Saviour's faithfulness ; these deep-wrought persuasions 
of the reality of things unseen ; this experimental knowl- 
edge of the value of religion ; this acquaintance with 
Christ, as known in the furnace of affliction. You forgot 
this, when you thought yourself utterly without fitness 
and ability to serve the Master. Go then and see. Paul 
remembered his trials in this light ; and he never rejoiced 
in the consciousness of his eloquence, his powers of 
endurance, his knowledge of human nature, as he re- 
joiced in his sufferings, because they qualified him to be 
so useful to the afflicted children of God. " Blessed," he 
cries, " be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who 
comforteth me in all my tribulation, that we may be 
able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the 
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." 
Christian, there are those all around you who need com- 
fort, the true comfort. Go and try to comfort them 
with the comfort wherewith you yourself have been com- 
forted of God. A great part of a pastor's work and a 
pastor's privilege is to be a minister of consolation to the 
downcast and distressed. It is to speak a word to him 
that is weary. It is to endeavor to profit by the hour 
when sorrows and losses have made the conscience ten 
der and the heart soft, to persuade sinners to look to the 
Saviour who both forgives our sin and bears our troubles ; 
and it is to bring to God's own children whom He afflicts 
the messages of peace and love that he is permitted to 
bring from the Father of consolation. But this work is 
for you as truly as it is for him. Go and see if it is not 
so ; and if the meaning of God's afflictive dealings with 
you is not truly to make you a blessing to others. 



GO AND SEE. 



103 



Thirdly, the words which the Saviour addressed in our 
text to His disciples were designed to teach them their 
insufficiency. They had something for this hungry mul- 
titude, something wherewith to obey His command, 
" Give ye them to eat," but how little it was — how mis- 
erably inadequate the supply ! And as they brought 
that little to Jesus, and He blessed it and brake it, and 
the slender provision of the little fisher's lad became 
the bountiful feast of thousands, and as they took up of 
fragments that remained after all had eaten and been 
filled twelve baskets full, how were these disciples made 
to recognize and to adore the power and the rich com- 
passion of their Lord, and to feel that all their sufficiency 
was from Him ! 

Go, then, Christian, go and see how small are your re- 
sources, how poor you are in ability to serve your Master 
and promote the welfare of your fellow-men, that you may 
learn to trust Him for His blessing upon your labors, and 
to praise Him for all success in the endeavor. Be en- 
couraged, even as you see your responsibility and at the 
same time your insufficiency, to look to Him who multi- 
plied the loaves, and ask Him to make you His honored 
and happy instrument in saving souls and building up 
His kingdom. Relying upon Him, engage then in His 
works. Try, every day, to do something for Jesus. Be 
ready for any service He may ask of you. Be on the 
watch for opportunities to counsel, to warn, to comfort, 
to help your fellow-man as Christ would have you do, 
acting in His name and stead, representing His benevo- 
lence and mercy to men. Go and count up your mercies. 
Go and review your life. Go and see what God your 
Saviour, what God who has shaped your life, has done to 
fit you to be a counsellor, a comforter, a guide, a helper 



104 



SERMONS. 



to others ; how God has replenished you that you might 
feed others with the bread of life ; how God has fash- 
ioned and furnished you for usefulness, and self-im- 
provement by all the teachings of His word and the 
dealings of His providence. For, do not forget this, in 
feeding others you yourself will be fed. The food which 
the disciples brought for the needs of the multitude was 
made by the Master's blessing a feast for them as well as 
for the five thousand. So the Christian will himself be 
strengthened and cheered as he ministers to the wants of 
others. 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for- 
ever. In that yesterday of His life on earth, we see Him 
waiting for His disciples to come back from the errand 
upon which He had sent them. The hungry multitude 
are around Him. His heart is full of compassion toward 
them. His hands are full of power to bless them. But 
He waits for the Twelve. Before the miracle shall be 
wrought, they must go and see what they have to share 
with these needy ones. They must bring their little 
store — the five loaves and the two fishes. And they 
must take the food, multiplied as He breaks it, and dis- 
tribute it to the people. So, we may believe, Christ waits 
now for His disciples to recognize their duty, to realize 
their ability, to feel their obligation, and to come and 
place their all at His feet, before He will do this great 
thing, and bless their humble efforts to the saving good 
of men. Will you not, then, dear hearer, fulfil this 
errand upon which your Lord sends you ? Go and see 
what you have that you can dedicate to His service and 
use, with His blessing upon it, for the comfort and 
enlightenment and guidance of your fellow-men; what 
truths lodged in your memory ; what consolations gath- 



GO AND SEE. 



I05 



ered in the experience of suffering, of sorrow, of anxiety, 
of bereavement ; what views of Jesus and His love ; what 
hopes of heaven ; what knowledge of the way of life, 
gained when, long ago, perhaps, you, a sinner, found a 
Saviour ; what convictions of the exceeding evil and 
bitterness of sin, wrought in you, it may be, through 
painful and humbling experiences of the truth, that it is 
a sad and woful thing to depart from God. Go and see 
— in the light of prayer and the Bible — what you have 
that Christ can bless and use for His glory and the good 
of men. 



III. 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 

John xix. 23. 

" Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout." 

The Roman law, under which our Saviour suffered 
crucifixion, awarded the clothing of the persons sen- 
tenced to the penalty of death to the officers of justice 
whose duty it was to inflict the penalty. Hence it came 
to pass that the soldiers who crucified Jesus obtained 
joint possession of His raiment, and divided it among 
them. Having in this way disposed of all save the coat 
or tunic, the principal article of clothing, they cast lots 
to decide whose that should be ; for, in the words of our 
text, " the coat was without seam, woven from the top 
throughout." 

Every reader of the Gospel knows why this fact of the 
distribution of the Saviour's raiment among His execu- 
tioners is mentioned by the evangelists, and why, in 
particular, this resort to the lot is stated. Obviously, it 
is because of the exact fulfilment, here found, of 
a prophecy uttered many centuries before concerning 
Christ. The twenty-second Psalm, one of the most 
remarkable of the Messianic psalms, contains these 
words, represented as spoken by Messiah : " They part 

106 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



107 



my garments among them, and cast lots upon my 
vesture." This is only one of several striking predic- 
tions of the sufferings and death of Christ that occur in 
the same psalm. It is but one of many similar predic- 
tions to be found in the Old Testament Scriptures. But 
it is one of the most extraordinary, because of its 
minuteness, and because of the way in which the prophecy 
was fulfilled to the very letter — even to the casting of the 
lot for the possession of a part of the Saviour's raiment, 
inasmuch as it was without seam ; and hence the soldiers 
said, " Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it." 

Our text has frequently engaged the attention of 
readers and students of the Gospel, because of a sym- 
bolic meaning which they have thought to see in it. The 
early Fathers of the Church regarded the seamless coat 
of Christ as emblematic of the unity and indivisibility 
of His Church. They were fond of dwelling on the lan- 
guage of the soldiers. "Let us not rend it"; and of 
drawing a lesson from these words upon the duty of sa- 
credly guarding the Church's oneness, and a warning 
against schism or separation from the one true fold. 
This symbolic sense was much insisted upon at the 
time of the Reformation. Matthew Henry tells us that 
those who opposed Luther's departure from the Church 
of Rome had much to say about the " tunica inconsu- 
tilis" — the seamless robe ; and some of them laid so much 
stress upon it that they were called the Inconsutilistas, 
the advocates of the seamless robe. Such a meaning, we 
all know, is purely fanciful; and the value of the state- 
ment of our text lies not in any figurative sense that 
may be drawn from it, but in its correspondence with the 
language of the prophecy to which I have referred. Here 
is one of those proofs of the truth of God's word, and 



io8 



SERMONS. 



of the mission of Christ as the Saviour ordained from of 
old, which carry conviction to every intelligent and can- 
did mind. The same Scripture that said, " They shall 
pierce His hands and His feet," declared, "They part My 
raiment among them." The same Scripture that said, 
" His flesh shall not see corruption," and again, " A bone 
of Him shall not be broken," declared that His vesture 
should not be rent, but that this strange use of the lot 
should be made in disposing of it. 

But now the question to which I would direct your 
thought, relates to the agency in the fulfilment of this 
prophecy. Who were the persons that were instrumental 
in carrying out to the very letter that singular prediction, 
which David had been inspired to make a thousand years 
before Christ's day, when as a type and representative 
of Christ he said : " They part my garments among them, 
and cast lots upon my vesture"? The Roman soldiers, 
we say at once ; also Pilate, the Roman governor, whose 
sentence, decreeing the prisoner's execution, implied the 
disposition to be made of his effects. The soldiers were 
the actors in the singular scene, and, when we come to 
think of it, the blind instruments of the Divine will for 
the doing of that which had been foretold. They were 
the men who were instrumental also in fulfilling another 
remarkable prediction occurring in the same psalm. 
They too pierced His hands and His feet. They were 
the agents for the fulfilment of those wonderfully dis- 
tinct and graphic predictions of the Saviour's sufferings 
and death that had been made by the prophet Isaiah, 
" He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised 
for our iniquities, He was cut off out of the land of the 
living." It was a part of this office for the unconscious 
performance of the Divine will that these soldiers dis- 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



IO9 



charged, when having nailed the innocent Redeemer to 
the cross, they parted His raiment, and cast lots. 

But there was another instrumentality, and one of a 
very different kind. Who it was, by whose hands that 
seamless robe was woven, we cannot say positively ; 
but certain it is, that those hands helped in working 
out God's plan as truly as did the hands that cast lots 
for it. The correspondence between David's prophecy 
a thousand years old, in one of its most remark- 
able particulars, and this event which fulfilled it was 
wrought out at the loom which produced this coat with- 
out a seam, woven from the top thoughout. But for 
that agency there would have been no such exact agree- 
ment between the prophetic language of this psalm, ut- 
tered as the language of the promised Messiah, and the 
statement of the evangelist, who relates that which 
happened under his own eyes, as he stood near the cross 
of Jesus. 

But when I call your attention to the fact of this 
agency, which though not distinctly mentioned by the 
evangelist, is certainly implied, I may be asked what 
there is in the fact that gives it any special interest be- 
yond that which belongs to the numberless other instances 
of an unconscious human agency in the carrying out of 
God's designs. For all know that the most wonderful 
changes in human affairs have depended upon the most 
trifling occurrences, but for which they would not and 
could not have been ; and that the providence of God 
has been as much concerned in raising up and directing 
the persons instrumental in bringing about those slight 
occurrences, as in superintending the grand results that 
flowed from them. This thought, indeed, would not be 
unworthy of our consideration in itself ; and we might 



no 



SERMONS. 



claim that our text affords a striking illustration of it, and 
that the fact before us does differ from most other in- 
stances of such an agency, in that it relates to an event 
of such exceptional importance as the crucifixion of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Every circumstance connected with 
that event has a peculiar interest ; and every person who 
took part in it, even remotely, shares that interest. But 
I think we shall see, upon further inquiry, that there are 
some special reasons for singling out this one among the 
agents in the fulfilment of the prophecy in question, and 
that there are some useful lessons to be learned from the 
reference which our text makes to her work. 

For it was a woman's work, this weaving of the seam- 
less coat. Thus much we can safely predicate upon the 
knowledge that we have of Oriental and Jewish customs 
in ancient times. Not only from here and there an allu- 
sion of Scripture, but also from positive statements, we 
learn that it usually fell to the lot of the women of a 
household to supply its members with clothing of their 
own manufacture. Thus the virtuous woman is described 
in the last chapter of the book of Proverbs : " She seek- 
eth wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold 
the distaff. She maketh fine linen. All her household 
are clothed with scarlet." This practice was not confined 
to Bible lands. Many illustrations of it might be gathered 
from ancient history and ancient literature in general. 
Alexander the Great, it is said, took pride in showing to 
his princely visitors the garments which his mother had 
made him. The Emperor Augustus, who was the con- 
temporary of our Lord in His boyhood, would wear no 
clothing but such as the members of his own family had 
woven. 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



Ill 



It was a woman's work, undoubtedly, the weaving of 
the seamless robe described in our text ; and it was work 
done in the home of Jesus, and by the hands of some of 
His own kinswomen according to the flesh. Reaching 
this conclusion, we may not have far to go to find, in all 
probability, the person or the persons by whom that 
work was wrought. Turning our eyes away from the 
group of those unconscious agents of God's providence, 
who are so strongly fulfilling the very letter of the olden 
prophecy, as they throw the dice upon the seamless coat, 
casting lots whose it should be — turning away from the 
unseemly and shocking sight, we see another group of 
Jesus' friends. These are not the disciples, for they, 
upon the Saviour's arrest, had all forsaken Him and fled, 
and none of them save John is mentioned as being pres- 
ent at His crucifixion. But they are the women : Mary 
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, 
and Salome, and His own mother, blessed among women. 
These, it is said by three of the evangelists, stood afar 
off beholding these things. Several of them were related 
to the Saviour as of His own kindred. Matthew and 
Mark add that they were the women who, when He was 
in Galilee, and while He came from Galilee, ministered 
unto Him. And John, beyond a question, refers to one 
of the works of kindness and love which these friends of 
Christ had wrought for Him, when he alone among the 
four evangelists mentions the weaving and the fashioning 
of the garment upon which the soldiers cast lots. 

Now we will go no further in our conjectures as to the 
identity of the person who though not named in the 
Gospel account was certainly the chief agent in the fulfil- 
ment of the extraordinary prophecy to which we have 
referred ; nor endeavor to establish the truth or likeli- 



112 



SERMONS. 



hood of the early tradition that it was Mary, the mother 
of our Lord, to whose work our text points ; a view 
which, in addition to its antecedent probability, may be 
said to find support in the fact that the evangelist who 
thus minutely describes the coat without seam is John, 
the only disciple who was an eye-witness of this transac- 
tion, and the disciple to whom the Saviour committed 
His mother, and who may naturally be supposed to have 
obtained from her this information concerning its con- 
struction. We think it enough to have shown that this 
work, so necessary to the fulfilment of prophecy, was the 
work of a friend of Jesus. Her name will never be 
known ; but this verse, which Inspiration ordered to be 
written in the Gospel, preserves her work from being for- 
gotten. What she did for Christ, and for Christianity 
too seems much more worthy to be held in remembrance 
than what Mary the sister of Lazarus did, when she 
poured a precious ointment upon Him, anointing, all un- 
consciously, His body for burial. Yet whilst the one ser- 
vice is mentioned in the Gospel as a perpetual memorial 
of the disciple who performed it — " Wheresoever this 
Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall 
also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a me- 
morial of her " — the other service is mentioned, very 
conspicuously indeed, and in connection with a most ex- 
traordinary and important event in the scene of the cru- 
cifixion, but without a hint as to the person who rendered 
it, save that in its nature it was a woman's work. 

Confining our attention to this fact, we may remark 
that the work which our text describes was one of indus- 
try. The weaver stood at the loom, passing the weft 
back and forth, alternately from left to right, and from 
right to left, over and under the warp-threads, either 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



113 



with the shuttle or with the unaided hand. Hour after 
hour the tedious process was continued ; day after day it 
was resumed, and slowly the material grew under the 
steady, patient toil. It was an employment fitted to call 
into requisition qualities of mind that are far from unim- 
portant. The labor which to a restless, ill-regulated 
spirit would be torture, and that to an ambitious, self- 
seeking spirit would be humiliation, helped to build up 
the womanly character in quiet energy and strength of 
sustained purpose. And it helped to give to the humble 
life the seemliness and dignity and beauty of an active 
usefulness. In this busy world nature itself cries shame 
upon idleness. A Jewish home, such as that of Jesus in 
Nazareth, was a home of industry. The thoughts, the 
habits, the conversation of its inmates, were shaped by 
the wise maxims of those Old Testament Scriptures, 
which have so much to say about diligence in business, 
and about the sin and disgrace of an idle and wasteful 
life. The work which our text mentions was a fruit of 
this spirit. It was a work of industry. And this should 
be true, my friends, of every employment which God 
lays to our hands. The first condition of its accepta- 
bleness in His sight, and of its utility in promoting his 
purposes, is that it be marked by earnest, hearty, perse- 
vering effort. Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might. Let it go down on the page of God's 
book that records your history of every duty done, and 
especially of every service rendered to the cause of 
Christ, as it went down on the page of the Gospel con- 
cerning this woman's work, that it was done thoroughly. 

In the second place, it was a labor of love. If, as we 
have seen, there is every reason to think that the weaving 
of the robe without seam was performed in accordance 



1 14 SERMONS. 

with the usage of the times and of the country by some 
near relative of our Lord, we may be very sure that the labor 
of its construction was a labor of love. What an object 
of fond affection must the sinless Saviour have been to 
the members of that household in Nazareth, who had 
seen Him grow up in innocence and matchless excel- 
lence, and in constant favor with God and man ! What 
delight must it have been, even apart from the considera- 
tion of His wonderful, divine character, to minister to 
One so dear to them, who had never pained them by 
word or deed, in whose lips was ever the law of kindness, 
and whose every look must have expressed the peace and 
good-will which He brought down from heaven to men ! 
But there was more than this to draw their hearts to Him. 
They knew Him to be the Christ. Mary had kept in her 
heart all the sayings that she had heard concerning her 
Holy Son : and while we read that His brethren, or kins- 
men as some understand it, did not believe on Him, no 
such statement is made of His sisters, or remoter kins- 
women, who are mentioned in the sixth chapter of Mark 
as continuing to live in Nazareth after the public ministry 
of our Lord had begun. Whoever of them performed this 
labor, did it as a labor of love. Those garments which the 
rough soldiery are dividing among themselves, and espe- 
cially that robe for which they are casting lots, were made 
by hands that took delight in ministering to the pure and 
gracious Redeemer. Some have thought that the state- 
ment of our text is an evidence of this loving care. The 
form and make of the robe were the form and make of 
the clothing peculiar to the Jewish priesthood ; and some 
have thought it was with reference to the Saviour's claims 
and character, and to the hopes that were cherished con- 
cerning Him by His friends, that this priestly garment 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



was prepared for Him, though He was not of the tribe of 
Levi. However this may be, we can well believe that 
loving and adoring thoughts of Jesus entered into this 
service that was rendered Him, as the busy hands wove 
the coat without seam, from the top throughout. 

But thirdly, it was a divinely guided work. If this 
Jewish woman, as she planned it, adjusting the loom 
to the particular form which she decided to give the 
garment, had had in her memory or before her eyes 
the very words of prophecy written in the twenty-sec- 
ond Psalm, she could not have planned more ably, more 
intelligently, to aid in the fulfilment of the wonderful 
purpose of God. But while only conscious of love and 
duty, she was under the guidance of the Wisdom that 
cannot err. She was working together with Him, whose 
providence was ordering all events with a view to the 
completion of that great redemptive scheme for which a 
Saviour had come into the world. What she was doing 
would help to identify the Lord Jesus, as the promised 
Messiah. While she thought herself happy in minister- 
ing to His comfort, during His life of benevolence and 
mercy, as He went about doing good, God was using 
her to contribute to the convincing testimony concerning 
His death as a sacrifice for the sins of the world ; forcing 
the very soldiers who nailed Him to the cross to prove 
Him the promised Saviour by casting lots upon His 
vesture. 

But I have said that there are some lessons to be 
learned from the passage of Scripture before us; and 
to these I now ask your attention. One is, 

That it depends much upon ourselves, upon what we 
are, and upon whose servants we are, whether our habits 
and employments appear to us slight and insignificant 



n6 



SERMONS. 



and commonplace, or honorable and important. There 
are persons who seem incapable of viewing or treating 
any subject seriously, and who naturally look upon their 
own lives and actions as of very little consequence to 
themselves or to others. There are persons in whom the 
sense of duty and of responsibility seems to be very 
feeble. Living to please themselves, they cannot be ex- 
pected to take thought as to the bearing of their conduct 
upon the happiness of others, or upon its future effects 
as relating to themselves. There are others who, faith- 
ful and conscientious in their work, as work done for a 
human master, do not look beyond to a Master in 
heaven. In the shop, in the office, in home employments, 
they are diligent, steadfast, persevering in the round of 
duties that are often felt to be pleasureless and unprofit- 
able, and there are those who draw some inspiration for 
the labors of life from an earthly, human love. The sat- 
isfaction, the gladness often of serving and of benefiting 
others, under the prompting of natural affection, gives 
interest to the humble occupation, relieves the tedium, 
turns drudgery into privilege, and confers dignity even 
upon menial service. 

But there is a more excellent way. There is a way in 
which the whole life may be rescued from insignificance, 
and raised from the level of the commonplace and the 
monotonous, and brought into a close relation with 
things of eternal and transcendent interest. It is by the 
earnest consecration of this life to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Give Him His rightful place as Lord of your affections 
and your powers. Whatsoever you do, in word or deed, 
do it heartily as unto Him, and not unto men, and you 
shall receive not only the reward of the inheritance, a 
future heavenly reward, but an immediate recompense 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



117 



in the dignity and beauty and happiness that shall be re- 
flected upon your present life, because it is a life conse- 
crated to Christ. 

How do our works appear in the light of the Cross ? 

It depends greatly upon what we ourselves are, in what 
light we view any work done for the Saviour. The Ro- 
man soldiery treated Christ's vesture, even as they treated 
His body, with derision and indignity. After Pilate had 
sentenced Him, they led Him into the common hall, and 
stripped Him of His raiment, and put on Him a purple 
robe. And when they had mocked Him at their will, 
they took the robe off from Him, and put His own rai- 
ment on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. And 
when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments 
among them, and cast lots for His vesture. These things 
the soldiers did, and did it in brutal mockery and scorn. 
In what a different light did these things appear to cer- 
tain others who beheld them ! 

The friends of Christ looked on with a mournful, pity- 
ing interest. The inspired evangelist recorded it as a 
wonderful fulfilment of prophecy. The reader of the 
Gospel is permitted to see in this mention of the seam- 
less robe, a reference to the painstaking, loving labors of 
some unknown disciple of the Lord. Thus entirely differ- 
ent views can be taken of any work done for Christ. The 
action may be censured, as the breaking of the box of 
spikenard, anointing Jesus' feet, was censured, for its 
wastefulness. It may be condemned, as the similar act 
on another occasion was condemned, because performed 
by one who had been a great sinner. It may be the ob- 
ject of ridicule and merriment, as the coat, woven with 
such care, was made the object of the soldiers' ridicule. 
How does it become us to regard any deed, any effort, 



u8 



SERMONS. 



honestly meant to please and honor Christ ? Surely 
with charity, with kindliness, with consideration, with a 
disposition to praise and not to depreciate. He is in bad 
company who makes light of the humblest work, the 
smallest service, which the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to 
accept. 

Labors of benevolence, such as properly come within 
the ordinary sphere of woman's work, have the very clear 
and express sanction of the Gospel. They are the recog- 
nized fruits of the true Christian spirit ; and they are 
valuable demonstrations of the presence and power of 
that spirit. Early in the history of the Apostolic Church, 
we find that touching story of the disciple at Joppa, 
whose life was full of good works and alms-deeds which 
she did ; and we read how it came to pass in those days, 
that she was sick and died ; and how, when Peter came, 
they led him into the upper chamber where she was laid, 
and showed him the coats and garments which Dorcas 
had made while she was with them. It was the spirit of 
the Gospel that prompted those labors of mercy. Had 
this disciple been a follower of Jesus, and caught this 
spirit from the Saviour Himself when He was on earth ; 
or had she breathed it from the Gospel as the apostles 
preached after the Redeemer's death ? We do not know, 
but it was the same Christlike benevolence in either 
case. It has been imagined that Dorcas may have heard 
the Saviour's teachings, and that on some occasion she 
may at least have 

" Stood on the borders of the crowd, 

Listening as Jesus spoke. 
She saw the garment knit throughout ; 

Forgot the words He spake ; 
Thought only : Happy hands that wrought 

The honored robe to make. 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



II 9 



Her eyes with longing tears grew dim : 

She never could come nigh 
To do one service poor for Him, 

For whom she glad would die. 
Across the crowd, borne on the breeze, 

Comes — Inasmuch as ye 
Did it unto the least of these. 

Ye did it unto me ! 
Home, home she went, and plied the loom, 

And God's dear poor arrayed. 
She died — they wept about the room, 

And showed the coats she made." 

Love to Christ has prompted many such deeds ; and 
they are none the less pleasing to Him because they are 
quiet deeds, differing in no noticeable respect from the 
ordinary routine of domestic toil — humble, obscure, mo- 
notonous in the light of the present, save as the thought 
of Jesus and of His needy ones flits through the mind ; 
and as " Holiness to the Lord " was written on the high- 
priest's garments, so the thought, Lord Jesus ! this is for 
Thee ! is woven into the Christian's work. 

Christ puts a special honor upon those who engage in 
such labors of benevolence for His sake, by classing them 
with those friends of His who ministered to His own 
wants in just such ways of kindness when He was on 
earth. He tells them that in the last great account it 
will be pronounced the same, to have clothed, and 
nourished, and cheered a needy follower of His, and to 
have clothed, and nourished, and cheered Him. " Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, 
My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Could there be 
a truth more beautifully suited to encourage Christian 
workers in what they do to supply the necessities of 
Christ's poor, than this assurance from His own lips, 
that He considers every such deed of mercy as done to 



120 



SERMONS. 



Himself? Should labors like these ever be suffered to 
languish in a church ; should it be found difficult to enlist 
the activities of disciples of the Saviour in efforts to 
provide for the necessities of missionary families or of 
mission children, or to send comforts to the sick in 
hospitals and tenement-houses, where the promise is to 
those who, in these and other like ways, seek to do good 
for Christ's sake, that they shall hear him say, " I was 
naked, and ye clothed Me ; I was sick and ye visited Me ; 
I was in prison, and ye came to Me " ? Surely not ; and 
yet, my friends, there is another thought which might, it 
seems to me, have even greater power than this in 
prompting us to work for Jesus. It is the thought that 
our work may be of service in proving His Gospel to be 
true. Must it not have been greater happiness to her 
who wove the seamless robe, to know that her work 
would serve in all coming ages to testify for her dear 
Lord, to show that this was indeed He of whom 
prophets had spoken, the Son of David, the Saviour of 
the world — He of whom it had been said, " They shall 
look upon Him whom they pierced ; they shall part His 
raiment among them, and cast lots for His vesture " — 
greater happiness to know this than even to know that 
she had ministered to His wants while He lived as a 
Man of Sorrows here on earth? Certainly it must have 
been. And it should be great joy to the Christian now, 
and it should have great power to prompt him in labors 
of usefulness, that these labors go to prove the Gospel 
true. By these shall all men know that we are His disci- 
ples. The work we do, in the name and in the spirit 
of our Master, shall testify for Him, shall prove His 
doctrine all divine. Unostentatious duties, like those 
that were done by the Saviour's friends when He was on 



THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM. 



121 



earth, simply to contribute to His welfare and to please 
Him, shall go to make up the evidence of the power of 
the Gospel over human hearts, and its power to bless the 
world. They shall constitute one of the grandest argu- 
ments in favor of the truth of that Christianity which 
brings forth such fruits of goodness and benevolence and 
love. 

And the Christian needs this evidence to assure him of 
the reality of religion in his own heart. It has been said, 
with great truth, that "there is generally more of true 
piety exhibited in a faithful observance of the minor 
duties of religion, than in those that excite the notice and 
applause of men. Improper motives may prompt to 
public duties, while those which escape men's eyes, and 
are intended only for God's observation, are not likely to 
be practised by one "who has not felt the Saviour's 
love." Only piety toward God can lead perseveringly 
and joyfully to the closet, to the house of affliction and 
poverty, to the search for opportunities to do good. The 
child is dutiful who obeys a parent's request in little 
matters, who seeks opportunities to please, and who 
watches for occasions to show his love. So general 
obedience may warrant the belief that a man is a Chris- 
tian ; but he furnishes greater evidence of love to God, 
whose heart overlooks no little thing that may please 
Him or glorify His name." May it be so, dear brethren, 
with every one of us who bears that name ! And may 
our subject lead each one here present to ask himself, 
" Do my works, do my daily employments, does the 
tenor of my life show that I am living for Christ, living 
to bless my fellow-men? Will it be said of that chosen 
occupation, that scheme which chiefly engrosses my 
thought, ' You did it unto Me'"? Or shall we hear the 



122 



SERMONS. 



King say, when He comes in His glory, of our every 
pursuit and labor : " You did it not to Me. I was an 
hungered, and ye gave Me no meat ; I was thirsty, and 
ye gave Me no drink ; I was naked, and ye clothed Me 
not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not; My poor 
needed your help, My servants needed your support, the 
instrumentalities for the promotion of My kingdom 
needed your aid, My work needed your personal super- 
vision, but you took no part, no worthy, adequate part, 
in the enterprise. You lived for self; you lived for 
the world ; you did it not to Me ! " God forbid that we 
should hear the King say this ! 



IV. 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 

John ii. 5. 
" Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." 

Is there more of sunshine, or of shadow in this world 
of ours? Is there more of gladness, or of trouble in the 
life we live? These questions would receive different 
answers from persons differently situated with reference 
to climate and local surroundings, persons in different 
circumstances and stations, persons differently consti- 
tuted in point of natural temperament. Yet no peculi- 
arities either of constitution or of condition should keep 
us from perceiving and admitting, that in this world and 
in this life, while there is much of gloom and trouble, 
there is very much too that is favorable to cheerfulness 
and serenity. And that is not a competent view of re- 
ligion, that connects it altogether or even chiefly with 
our pensive and anxious times. We need religion for 
every-day use ; and many of our days, thanks to the 
kind ordaining of our Heavenly Father's good provi- 
dence, are bright days. It was so in that life which was 
the light of men, the life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. It closed in sorrow ; and the three years that 
preceded its close were years pervaded greatly by sorrow ; 
and because this period, the period of His public minis- 

123 



124 



SERMONS. 



try, is all of the Saviour's life on earth about which we 
have in the Gospel any thing like a detailed account, we 
think of Him habitually perhaps as a Man of Sorrows, 
acquainted with grief, having little to do with human ex- 
istence save in its mournful phases and its solemn 
exigencies ; and we do not in imagination bring Christ 
into our gladness and festivity, our seasons of recreation ; 
we scarcely bring Him into the light of our tranquil, un- 
eventful week-day life, as One of whom it is natural and 
proper to think in connection with social and domestic 
pleasures, and ordinary commonplace affairs. But this 
is surely a mistake; and the impression out of which 
this mistake arises is certainly not the impression that the 
Gospels aim to give us concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. 
It results evidently from a failure to take in the whole 
view which those Gospels present of His incarnate life. 
Thirty years went before the period of His public minis- 
try ; and though little is said about them by the evangel- 
ists, we are not left without hints that enable us to 
picture to ourselves the tenor of those years. The 
happiest childhood that ever mortal spent, was that of the 
sinless One, who grew up as a tender plant in peaceful 
obscurity in Nazareth in Galilee. It is written, He was 
subject unto His parents ; and again, He waxed strong 
in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was 
upon Him ; and again, Jesus increased in wisdom and 
stature, and in favor with God and man. These are bare 
outlines, it is true, but outlines of infinite beauty and sig- 
nificance. They give us to infer beyond question that 
during all the time that introduced His brief and 
solemn mission as man's Redeemer, Christ lived our 
life, shared its common burdens and its innocent pleas- 
ures, and was our example in contentment, in cheerful- 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



125 



ness, in approachableness, in companionableness, in ac- 
commodation to the requirements of His earthly position 
and surroundings. And this impression is certainly 
borne out by the representation which the Gospel makes 
of the Saviour at the begining of His public ministry, 
when just emerging from that period about which we 
know so little. The first miracle wrought by Jesus shows 
Him to us as He was quitting the associations and de- 
taching Himself from the ties of His early life ; and so 
the story of this miracle has an interest which may be 
likened to that of the moment when the sun is passing 
out of an eclipse, and, as the faint streak of the crescent 
orb appears, the astronomer is able to analyze its light as 
he cannot do when the full splendors of the sun are un- 
veiled. Then we read of the wonderful work which the 
Saviour wrought in Cana of Galilee: "This beginning of 
miracles did Jesus, . . . and manifested forth His 
glory." Let us dwell for a little while upon the facts 
concerning this miracle as we find them recorded by St. 
John. 

There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and Jesus and 
His disciples were among the guests. We do not know 
precisely where Cana was situated. Two places, not far 
from Nazareth, are called by this name at the present 
day, and there are some reasons in favor of the claim of 
the one place, and some in favor of that of the other, to 
be regarded as the village mentioned in the Gospel. 
Both of these places, however, lie in the hilly country 
only a few miles away to the north or the northeast from 
our Saviour's early home ; and this circumstance of the 
nearness of the place makes it seem the more probable 
that the family in which the wedding occurred may have 
been closely related to that of Jesus — His kinsmen ac- 



126 



SERMONS. 



cording to the flesh. Such relationship would account 
not only for Christ's presence, but also for that of His 
mother at the feast. " The mother of Jesus," it is stated, 
" was there," and not, like Himself, by invitation ; but, 
we may infer, as one at home among her kindred, and 
exercising a certain oversight in the affairs of the house. 
During the progress of the simple festivities that followed 
the marriage, it was found that the supply of wine pro- 
vided for the entertainment was giving out. Perhaps 
the unexpected arrival of the friends who came with 
Jesus — the five disciples whom He had lately called, and 
who had accompanied Him on His hurried journey from 
Judaea to Galilee — may explain this failure. Troubled 
by the discovery, and anxious that no seeming lack of 
hospitality should disturb the pleasure of the occasion, 
and expose, perhaps, the poverty of the family, whose 
means may not have allowed them to provide for more 
than the number of persons originally invited, the mother 
of Jesus saith unto Him : " They have no wine." It is 
manifest that this announcement was made with the hope 
that He would in some way meet this difficulty, and save 
her friends and herself from dreaded mortification. Had 
not Elijah and Elisha each in the days of the old proph- 
ets wrought a miracle for the relief of a poor widow, 
multiplying the small portion of oil that was all that was 
left in her house ? Mary had not forgotten the wonder- 
ful things that were said of her Son in His infancy, and 
the promise of His holy childhood, but had kept all these 
things and pondered them in her heart. And now that 
He has reached the age of thirty — the age prescribed by 
the law for the beginning of a public career in the case 
of those who waited on the service of the sanctuary ; now 
that He has, after the manner of a public teacher, sur- 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



127 



rounded Himself with a number of disciples, giving 
Himself out as a public teacher, may not the time have 
come when He whom she secretly believes to be the Son 
of the Highest shall show forth His glory? And may 
He not do it in this emergency, for the help of these His 
kindred and early friends, and at her prayer — a mother's 
prayer ? 

Jesus saith unto her : " Woman, what have I to do 
with thee ? Mine hour is not yet come." 

There was something of rebuke in this answer, yet not 
so much of it as we are apt to think, for the title given 
to Mary was not a harsh one, but one perfectly consist- 
ent with courtesy and even with tenderness. Very 
tenderly did Jesus address His mother from the cross, 
when He said to her, committing her to the care of one 
of his disciples : " Woman, behold thy son ! " And it 
was in all gentleness that, after His resurrection, He 
spoke to Mary Magdalene as she stood weeping at the 
door of the sepulchre: "Woman, why weepest thou? 
whom seekest thou ? " So here there was nothing of 
harshness in the title or address used. Yet in the words 
that follow there is something of the tone of reproof. 
Mary must learn that He who till now has been subject 
to her authority, as a son in the home, is One over whom 
henceforth she can exert no such natural influence ; that 
He must pursue His work regardless of all earthly ties, 
and unmoved by any appeal or dissuasion on the part of 
those who were His kinsmen according to the flesh ; and 
that the exercise of his wonder-working power will be 
timed, not by the wishes or convenience of human 
friends, but by the will alone of His Father in heaven. 
Some such meaning we must certainly read in the 
Saviour's answer : " What have I to do with thee ? 



128 



SERMONS. 



What is there in common between Me and thee ? Mine 
hour is not yet come." 

His mother saith unto the servants : " Whatsoever He 
saith unto you, do it." 

There is no trace here of wounded or disappointed 
feeling. Mary acquiesced at once in the will of Him 
who till now had been submissive as a son to her will. 
Her only concern at present is that the plan He has in 
mind, be it what it may, shall be faithfully and promptly 
executed. " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." 

The lesson that I find in these words, and that I wish 
to bring before you, is this : Thorough and unquestion- 
ing obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ is claimed of us 
in our secular and social life, as in our religious and spir- 
itual life. 

Thorough and unquestioning obedience was expected 
as the condition of all blessing in the case of those who 
sought Christ's help when He was on earth — His help to 
deliver from sorrow and suffering. Often this obedience 
was demanded before the help was given. A nobleman 
of Herod's court came to Jesus beseeching Him that He 
would accompany him down to his house, where his son 
lay at the point of death. Jesus saith unto him : " Go 
thy way ; thy son liveth." And the man believed the 
word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his 
way. " Rise, take up thy bed, and walk," said the 
Lord to the friendless cripple lying at Bethesda's pool. 
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up 
his bed and walked. " Stand forth," was the word to 
one that had a withered hand ; and when the man rose 
and stood in the midst of the crowded synagogue, 
" Stretch forth thine hand," said Jesus ; and he stretched 
it forth, and it was restored whole like the other. Again, 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



129 



there are miracles in which this obedience comes to view 
in the sequel of the work of healing, though doubtless 
the Saviour saw the readiness to obey in the heart of the 
sufferer before He healed him. " Return to thine own 
house," said He to the demoniac in the country of the 
Gadarenes : " Go home to thy friends, and tell them how 
great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had 
compassion on thee." And he departed, and began to 
publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for 
him. And again, sometimes the miracle was performed 
in such a way as to call forth into expression this spirit 
of obedience, and give it exercise, and strengthen it, and 
illustrate it, as when a centurion sent to Jesus begging 
that He would come and heal his servant ; and then, as 
the Master drew near, and was now not far from the 
house, he sent again to countermand, or rather to modify 
his former request, begging Him not to come, that were 
too great trouble for Him to take, and too much honor 
for the petitioner to receive ; but " Speak — speak the 
word only, say in a word — and my servant shall be 
healed. For I myself know what it is to command and 
be obeyed. I have under me soldiers, and I say unto 
one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he 
cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it ; — 
and Thou ! Thou ! hast all power — legions of angels 
hasten, and hosts of devils flee at Thy bidding ; and all 
the forces of disease, and death itself, are subject to 
Thy wonder-working word. Therefore speak the word 
only, and my servant shall be healed." 

Now the thorough and unquestioning obedience of 
which we have the striking examples in these cases, 
where men came to Christ in their troubles and dis- 
tresses, is just the obedience that we should seek to 



130 



SERMONS. 



render to Him in our daily lives, and not less in the 
midst of social and domestic happiness, and in the quiet 
enjoyment of that elevating and restful communion with 
nature which it is our privilege to have in this world of 
wonderful beauty, than in our times of suffering and sor- 
row, and in our serious and religious hours. Let us en- 
deavor, my brethren, to realize these two things : first, 
that Christ is actually with us at such times ; and sec- 
ondly, that He is present to command, and to be obeyed. 
It is very significant that the beginning of our Saviour's 
miracles should have occurred in a scene of domestic and 
social rejoicing ; and it is very impressive to read, in con- 
nection with that scene, this precept of our text, this re- 
quirement of a thorough and unquestioning obedience : 
" Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Let us seek to 
have a sense, habitual and deepening, of the nearness of 
God while we behold His works ; and of the nearness of 
God, in His tender interest and willingness to bless, while 
we associate with our fellow-creatures, His children, in the 
intimacies of the home and in the fellowship of friends. 
It is a great thing to realize the presence of God when we 
are alone, in secret and absorbed communion with the 
Father of our spirits ; and solitude and seclusion seem 
necessary in order to certain exercises of devotion : 

" The calm retreat, the silent shade, 
With prayer and praise agree." 

But it is important also that we should have a sense of 
the Divine presence and favor when mingling with our 
fellow-men, and especially with our fellow disciples, and 
that our mingling with them should have the effect, not 
to separate us from Him, but to draw us and them the 
closer to Him. Now the religion of the Gospel is meant 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



131 



and fitted to promote this end. It is a social religion. 
Its holiest ordinance let us remember, was instituted as a 
social ordinance. Its largest blessings are for those who 
meet together in the Master's name. Its most heavenly- 
joys are to be tasted in the communion of saints. It 
teaches us to cherish a lively interest in the good of our 
fellow-men. It bids us share in the happiness and in the 
sorrow of others : " Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and 
weep with them that weep." Its divine Founder was not 
a recluse, an ascetic, indifferent to the loveliness of nature, 
and shunning the societies of men. John came preaching 
in the wilderness, and sternly rebuking the follies of his age 
by a singular departure from its social customs, " neither 
eating nor drinking " like others and with others ; but the 
Son of Man came eating and drinking, subsisting on or- 
dinary food, associating freely with all classes of people, 
and finding pleasure and satisfaction in the contempla- 
tion of all things beautiful that His Father's hand had 
made. He noticed the lilies of the field, and the birds 
of the air. He watched the face of the heavens, and 
read their portents: the reddening sky that promised 
fair weather; the cloud rising out of the west betokening 
rain ; and He drew lessons for His followers, and for the 
multitudes, from the sights that were familiar to Him as 
to them, in the villages and in the country — the children 
at their games in the market-place, the men standing 
there idle waiting to be hired, the women grinding at the 
mill, the shepherd leading forth his flock to pasture, the 
sower scattering seeds over the ploughed ground, the 
laborer loosing his beast from the stall and leading him 
away to watering, the reapers in the harvest-field, the 
fishermen drawing their nets to the shore. And one im- 
portant use that we are to make of this Gospel story, so 



132 



SERMONS. 



rich in details concerning the Saviour's earthly life, is to 
realize its actuality, and learn to believe and feel that He 
who thus lived our life is eternally present with us, and 
unchangeably interested in our human existence. 

" This earth He trod, 
To teach us, He is ever nigh." 

To enjoy the beautiful in nature, and to participate in 
scenes of innocent, social, and domestic pleasure, with 
this delightful truth in mind, is to make our lives 
thoroughly and harmoniously religious. In the light of 
this beginning of miracles, which shows us our Saviour as 
graciously present and participant in the society of kin- 
dred and friends, let us see what is the effect that pure 
and undefiled religion ought to have upon us at all times. 
It should influence us to act as if Christ were a constant 
and supremely welcome Guest in our homes, a constant 
and welcome Companion in all our ways. We may apply 
to our seasons of social converse the counsel that a quaint 
writer gives with reference to all the employments of our 
daily lives. " Do," says he, " as little children do, who 
with one hand hold fast by their father, and with the 
other gather flowers or berries along the hedges; so you, 
gathering and managing with one hand the things of 
this world, must with the other always hold fast the hand 
of your Heavenly Father, turning yourself towards Him 
from time to time, to see if your actions or occupations 
be pleasing to Him ; but above all things take heed that 
you never let go His protecting hand, thinking to gather 
more ; for should He forsake you, you will not be able 
to go a step without falling to the ground." 

This then is our first thought. Let it be our endeavor 
and our prayer that we may be alive to the nearness of 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



133 



God, in our times of cheerfulness and peace, even as in 
our troubled and sorrowful times. As word went through 
the happy company in Cana, "Jesus of Nazareth has 
come," so, though our eyes be holden, let our faith assure 
itself, whether among few or among many, in the house 
or in the fields, The Lord is here. The Son of God, by 
whom He made the world, is present in the midst of His 
works, upholding all things by the word of His power. 
The Son of Man, whose first miracle displays Him a kins- 
man among kindred, a friend among friends, solicitous 
for the comfort of a family and the innocent enjoyments 
of the guests, and who but a little time before He left 
this earth walked with two of his disciples in social con- 
verse, though they knew Him not, is with us now. Oh, 
let me realize His sanctifying, calming, gladdening, inspir- 
ing presence ! 

" When round Thy wondrous works below 
My searching, rapturous glance I throw, 
Tracing out wisdom, power, and love, 
In earth or sky, in stream or grove ; — 
jWhen with dear friends sweet talk I hold, 
And all the flowers of life unfold : — 
Let not my heart within me burn, 
Except in all I Thee discern." 

And then our second thought is, Christ is present to 
command, and to be obeyed. We are not more in dan- 
ger of forgetting or failing to realize His presence, than 
we are of forgetting our duty always and in every place 
to do His will. And what we need most in order to ap- 
prehend the blessed fact that He is in the midst of us, is 
to remember the simple rule, " Whatsoever He saith unto 
you, do it." Retirement, meditation, prayer, help us to 
find nearness to God, and to find happiness and rest in 



134 



SERMONS. 



that nearness ; but when we are in company with others, 
in the circle of friendship, and even amid social festivities, 
it is possible to live as in His sight, it is possible to 
rejoice in the Lord, it is possible to have it as of old 
it was in Cana of Galilee, when " both Jesus was called 
and His disciples," to the feast. And this let us ob- 
serve, not as the result of pious musings and mystic 
imaginings, but as the effect of simple, practical, hearty 
obedience. We realize Christ's presence in our holiest 
hours, even at the Lord's Supper, as we endeavor in 
humble obedience and in the spirit of faith to fulfil one 
of His commands : " This do, in remembrance of Me." 
And we shall best be enabled to commune with him in 
nature, and amid human societies, in hours that shall 
thus too be made holy, when we study, as seeing Him 
who is invisible, to please a Master whose authority 
reaches us and whose blessing attends us everywhere. 

Such obedience, I remark, brings us into fellowship 
with Christ. The apostle Paul desired to know the fel- 
lowship of his Master's sufferings ; and even so, we may be 
brought through obedience, in our times of quietness and 
of gladness, into fellowship with His pure and holy char- 
acter as it shone forth in scenes of rejoicing. Obedience 
brings us into conformity with Christ. In all the days of 
His earthly life that went before His public ministry and 
His passion, our Lord was obedient. To the very end, 
He obeyed His Heavenly Father, and found His happi- 
ness in that obedience. " I delight to do Thy will, O 
My God," He cried ; " yea, Thy law is within My heart." 
But up to the moment of the working of this first miracle, 
He was subject to an earthly parent ; and who can doubt 
that it was His happiness to fulfil this obligation that 
rested upon Him as the Son of Man ? For if it is hu- 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



135 



man, in the sense that holds true of humanity as it is, — 
human to desire and to take satisfaction in the exercise 
of authority, the right to command and exact obedience, 
it is also human in the best sense, the sense that might 
hold true of an unfallen humanity, to take satisfaction 
in thorough and unquestioning obedience — obedience to 
the supreme and righteous law. Such a feeling has some- 
times appeared in men who were far from perfect, yet 
possessed in some respects an exceptional nobleness of 
character. It was said of the Duke of Wellington, by 
one who knew him long and intimately, that " he had 
more pride in obeying than in commanding ; and he 
never for a moment considered that his great position 
and elevation above all other subjects released him from 
the same obligation which the humblest of them acknowl- 
edged " — the obligation to fulfil the will of the sovereign 
and the state. My brethren, it will enhance all other 
happiness for us, and it will bring us into blessed near- 
ness to our Lord, diligently and attentively to seek, amid 
the brighter and the gayer, as well as amid the darker 
and sadder experiences of our lives, " whatsoever He 
saith unto us, to do it." 

To do it — the duty of the hour, the duty of the occa- 
sion. To rejoice with them that do rejoice. To promote 
unselfishly the innocent and healthy happiness of others. 
To use the good things of this world as not abusing 
them. To honor God, whose servants we are, by a 
blameless and a consistent conduct before men. To 
sweeten and to sanctify earthly bliss by associating it 
in our own thoughts and, as we may have opportunity, 
in the thoughts of others with the heavenly bliss. To 
avoid the sins that may more easily beset us in our times 
of social converse and relaxation — the sins of levity, ir- 



136 



SERMONS. 



reverence, uncharitableness, immoderate participation in 
pleasure. Christ at the feast in Cana did much to aug- 
ment the comfort and enjoyment of His friends, much to 
prevent the marring of their happiness by a public morti- 
fication in the failure of the things provided for the feast 
to hold out ; but He did nothing to promote excess and 
folly. At His command, and by the exercise of His 
miraculous power, water was turned into wine, that 
there should be enough for the guests ; but this use 
of wine, in a country where the population were pro- 
verbially temperate, and where other wholesome bev- 
erages were unknown, affords no warrant to men in a 
country like ours, where strong drink is a national curse, 
where even the moderate use of that which intoxicates 
only too often makes a brother to offend for whom Christ 
died — does deadly harm to others whom the example en- 
courages in a habit destructive to the body and the soul 
— no warrant for the use of strong drink ; and certainly 
constitutes no reason why the Christian should not re- 
nounce the indulgence for the sake of avoiding injury 
to others. 

The lesson which Christ's example does teach, and 
with which His commands do all agree, is that of kind- 
ness, helpfulness, tender consideration for even the 
momentary welfare — how much more for the permanent 
and eternal welfare — of others. Dear friends, let us lay 
this lesson to heart; and seeking to have Him always 
with us, let us strive, whatsoever He saith to us, by His 
Word and Spirit, to do it. Doing all things in His name. 
Doing all things to His glory. And so, as much in our 
times of health and cheerfulness as in our times of pain 
and grief, we shall be training and preparing for that 
glorious world and that blessed life, where, with angels 



OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. 



137 



that excel in strength, we shall find our perfect bliss in 
doing His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of 
His word. 

But already, dear friends, there is a happiness in this 
service which does not wait for heaven. Obedience to 
Christ in our prosperous times secures a blessing that en- 
hances all other good. As in the after-glow of a glorious 
sunset we have seen the splendor fall upon the mountain 
slopes and summits, tinging not only the sterile crag, and 
giving brilliancy to that which was forbidding, but light- 
ing up also the wooded heights and valleys, adding beauty 
to that which was beautiful before ; so shall we find that 
living in the light of His countenance, whom, having not 
seen, we love, in whom, though now we see Him not, 
yet, believing, we rejoice, His favors shall be our chief 
joy. Oh, yes ! Obedience to Christ brings a rich present 
reward. It has satisfactions that far exceed all natural 
gladness. As in the miracle before us, there are won- 
drous transmutations wrought for him who hears the 
Master's bidding to do it. Ordinary duties give occasion 
for the display of a willing mind, and an earnest purpose 
to please and glorify the Lord. The action takes its im- 
portance from the motive which inspires it, the thought 
that runs through it. As in our relations to our fellow- 
men, a worthy feeling — love, pity, generosity — can make 
the simplest deed significant of good-will and helpfulness, 
so, and much more, in our relation to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The cup of cold water given in His name to a 
disciple of His shall not lose its reward. 

The opportunity improved to do good to others, to con- 
quer the evil that is in ourselves, to please Him who 
sees the silent, inward struggle with temper, with selfish- 
ness, with discontent, with unbelief, shall meet His ap- 



138 



SEXMONS. 



proval, and we shall hear him say : " Ye are my friends," 
when we do whatsoever He hath said unto us. 

How comprehensive and all-sufficient is this religion of 
the Lord Jesus Christ ! The solace of our troubles, it is 
the glory of our brightest days. Let our love and grati- 
tude go forth afresh to that divine Saviour who has re- 
vealed Himself to us as the Partner of our earthly joys, 
and our support in trial and adversity, our Keeper ; who 
leadeth us by the side of the still waters in green past- 
ures, and who will be with us in the valley of the shadow 
of death. 

Let us hasten, in our gladness and grateful love to Him, 
whatsoever He saith unto us, to do. 



V. 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 

Matthew v. 5. 

" Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth." 

Meekness has been defined as a temper of mind not 
easily moved to resentment. It is a quality that comes 
to view under conditions suited to disturb and irritate, 
or to depress and mortify the feelings. It is a reasona- 
ble and benignant disposition, raising the soul above the 
brutal impulses of rage and revenge, and producing 
habitual self-control. It is a quality ennobling to the 
individual man, and humanizing to mankind at large. 
Meekness is the very soul of a true civilization. It stands 
diametrically opposed to those qualities that especially 
constitute barbarism — the fierce and cruel spirit that 
breathes hatred, and prompts to deeds of violence and 
lawlessness — the spirit of arrogant self-assertion and dis- 
regard for the interests and the rights of the weak. And 
while on the one hand it prevents these outbreaks of 
selfishness in those who have the power to inflict wrong, 
on the other hand it blesses those who suffer hardship. 
Meekness supports the soul, and keeps it in poise and 
self-centred under reproach, under reproof, under con- 
straint, under command, under discipline, under the trial, 
whatever its character or degree, of a realized inferiority. 

139 



SERMONS. 



It was upon the possessors of this quality that our 
Lord pronounced His third Beatitude : " Blessed are the 
meek : for they shall inherit the earth." This we may 
well believe was a statement surprising to some at least 
of those who first heard it ; and we ourselves, who are 
very familiar with it, and accustomed to accept it as a 
simple and beautiful saying, have only to consider its 
meaning somewhat closely to find it a striking and even 
a startling one. Each one of the Beatitudes, in fact, is a 
paradox, a seeming contradiction. It is such to our 
minds ; much more must it have been this to the minds 
of men in the dawn of Christianity. Those eight sayings 
of Christ with which the Sermon on the Mount begins, 
are often compared or contrasted with the Ten Com- 
mandments. The Beatitudes are blessings pronounced 
upon the lowly virtues ; and they are wafted to us with 
infinite sweetness and gentleness from the Saviour's lips. 
How different the sound of these divine sentences, that 
fell like music on the ears of the disciples, gathered be- 
fore the Master on the mountain side in Galilee, and that 
reached the multitudes who pressed around them, eager 
to share in His gracious teachings ; from the sound of 
those other divine sentences, the Ten Commandments, 
uttered from Sinai, with such awful impressiveness that 
the trembling people removed from the base of the 
mountain and stood afar off ! The Beatitudes are bless- 
ings, promises, while the Ten Commandments are solemn 
warnings. The Beatitudes have to do with those whose 
state of heart and manner of conduct are approved of 
God — the humble, the penitent, the meek, the merciful, 
the pure in heart ; the Ten Commandments have to do 
with transgression. But in all the Ten Commandments 
there is not a single paradox. Not one of those prohibi- 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 



141 



tions involves a seeming contradiction. The law forbids 
sin. For every transgression there is a just recompense 
of reward — a penalty implied. But in the Beatitudes 
each blessing is a surprise — a glad surprise to a mind in 
sympathy with the qualities here commended ; but a 
strange and an incongruous statement to one that is not 
in sympathy with them. 

Thus in declaring the blessedness of the meek, our 
Lord added : " For they shall inherit the earth." Here, 
to begin with, there is an incongruity to some minds in the 
mention of meekness, as a trait of character to be admired 
and praised. Men do not commonly admire and praise a 
quality which means uncomplaining submission to in- 
jury, freedom from resentment while enduring wrong. 
So far from being commended, this trait is one that is 
very commonly held up to contempt. A meek man, in 
the esteem of the world, is a spiritless, cringing, cow- 
ardly creature, the farthest remove from that which is 
manly and noble. This impression may be accounted 
for in a twofold way. First, men mistake this virtue for 
its counterfeit. Meekness is not pusillanimity, mean- 
ness. It is the disposition, not of him who lacks the 
courage to avenge an injury, but of him whom the fear of 
God moves and the grace of God enables to rule his own 
heart, repressing the rising impulse of vindictiveness, 
and giving scope to the better feelings of sorrow, pity, 
forgiveness. The affectation of this virtue is indeed 
worthy of all contempt. The endeavor to seem indiffer- 
ent to slight and injury, that he may ingratiate himself 
into the favor and confidence of others, is the part of 
a hypocrite, who richly deserves all the scorn he gains. 
But there should be no difficulty in distinguishing be- 
tween this pretense of meekness, assumed for some base 



142 



SERMONS. 



end, as a mask behind which covetousness or ambition 
or designing wickedness of some other kind hides its 
hateful features, and the quality of which our Saviour 
speaks here. True meekness is a self-forgetful virtue. 
It is a disinterested grace. It bears injustice, not neces- 
sarily without resistance, but without the loss of self-pos- 
session, and without a storm of violent emotion, whether 
smouldering in the breast or bursting forth in ungoverna- 
ble passion. It is in a certain sense a passive virtue, yet 
endued with a wondrous force to steady and strengthen 
and pacify the soul, and manifestly entitled by reason of 
this power to the sincerest respect of mankind. 

But a second reason for the disfavor with which men 
commonly regard this quality, is to be found in the fact 
that meekness, even though unmistakably genuine and 
sincere, stands opposed to much that is native to the 
human heart. We do not incline by nature to submis- 
sion under trial, and calmness under provocation ; and, 
though we are not incapable of perceiving the excellence 
of a submissive and forgiving spirit, yet the virtue that 
differs so greatly from the prevailing sentiment and tem- 
per is likely to be an unpopular virtue. We grant the 
truth of the Wise Man's saying : " Better it is to be of 
an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil 
with the proud " ; yet the rewards of humility have less 
attraction for us than the treasures of pride. We grant 
that " He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, 
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city " ; 
yet, somehow, the victories we dream of and love to read 
of are the achievements of the iron will and the unbend- 
ing purpose. The heroes of our imagination are the 
men who take cities rather than the men who aim at the 
conquest of themselves. 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 



143 



And yet, my brethren, men are not slow to perceive 
the fitness and the beauty of this quality as it reveals 
itself in certain natures and in certain situations in 
life. Few parents are so unwise as to command and 
encourage in their children a self-asserting disposition, 
quick to rise up against authority, and meet rebuke with 
retort and defiance. Meekness is deemed becoming in a 
child. It is deemed becoming in those who do service 
to others. No fault is more severely condemned in men 
and women who are engaged in domestic labor, than the 
sensitiveness that will not brook reproof, the petulance 
that betrays itself, if not in angry words, in displeased 
looks and curt and sharp tones, when the will is crossed 
or the feelings are wounded. Meekness is in place here. 
The most arrogant and exacting employer will read ap- 
provingly the exhortation which the Bible addresses to 
" servants to be obedient and well-pleasing, not answer- 
ing again." The subordinate in commercial life, the 
government employe, the soldier, is expected to have 
this grace in exercise. If the third Beatitude could be 
understood as applying exclusively to those whose posi- 
tion is such as to make it for their interest that they 
should maintain a calm and quiet demeanor while exe- 
cuting the command of others, and even cherish an un- 
ruffled and contented spirit beneath this outward appear- 
ance, doubtless all would join in saying: "Blessed are 
the meek. Happy they who can do this ! It is a neces- 
sity of their condition ; and they may well make a virtue 
of the necessity." 

But if it be a mistake to confound meekness with its 
semblance, the mildness that comes from lack of courage, 
or the servility that affects mildness in order to reach 
some selfish end, it is equally a mistake, while distin- 



144 



SERMONS. 



guishing this grace from that counterfeit, and granting 
its excellence, to regard it as a quality more becoming to 
some than to others, more necessary in some than in 
others. We expect meekness in some ; we require it in 
some ; in others, its absence appears to us excusable and 
even natural. Perhaps we fail to realize that we have 
any need to possess it and to display it ourselves. Let 
the youth pass, with the flight of years, from a condition 
of restraint, as one under authority, to a position of 
manly or womanly independence. Let the apprentice or 
the clerk, in the changes of fortune, find himself in the 
place of the employer, the poor man in the position 
of the rich, and the pressure under which the lowly 
grace of meekness flourished is removed. And now 
you look for growths of a different kind at the new 
altitude. Set free from the obligation to defer to the 
wishes of another, to serve the interests of another, 
the emancipated mind has leisure and opportunity 
to indulge its own fancies and magnify its own conse- 
quence. You expect to find it self-conscious and self- 
important, jealous of its dignity, pre-occupied with its 
own concerns. You would be surprised to find the 
modest grace of meekness blooming here, where the 
surroundings seem so much more favorable to the putting 
forth of pride and ambition and vain-glory. The place 
for this lowly flower, you say to yourself, was the valley* 
The time to seek it was the spring. It does not belong 
here. 

But now it is due simply to the folly and blindness of 
our human nature that we think thus. Meekness belongs 
to man, as man. No other frame of mind is consistent 
with his true condition. Wherever he may find his place 
— whether on the heights of prosperity, on the level of 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 



H5 



the common lot, or in the depths of adversity, it becomes 
him to be meek. The slight change in his earthly condi- 
tion by which he is raised from dependence to command, 
from subordination to authority, does not relieve him 
from the pressure of any moral obligation. His rela- 
tions to his fellow-men may differ in certain particulars, 
but through those relations the same duties run ; and he 
can no more cease to be meek toward them, than he can 
cease to be honest and humane and benevolent. His rela- 
tion to his Maker has not changed an hair's breadth. In 
a palace as in a hovel, he is equally God's subject, held in 
almighty hands, powerless to withstand the infinite will. 
He is as much exposed at the one point as at the other to 
troubles and sorrows of this uncertain life. What other 
temper than meekness befits him who, do what he may, 
must needs accept what is sent upon him, whether it is 
good or evil, and who, at the time appointed by a decree 
that none can resist, must exchange his grandeur for the 
lowliness and obscurity of the grave ? 

" O why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? " 

There is indeed no earthly condition to which arrogance, 
vain-glory, is really suited. There is none in which meek- 
ness is not alone reasonable and becoming. 

Thus the paradox which our text presents at the out- 
set, in declaring the blessedness of the meek, is easily ex- 
plained. The seeming contradiction disappears, as we 
consider what meekness is, and what occasion there is 
for this grace in view of man's true position and the char- 
acter that befits him. But there is a second paradox in 
this Beatitude which we may pass on to consider. It is 
presented in the reason assigned for this mention of the 
meek as happy : " Blessed are the meek ; for they shall 
inherit the earth." 



146 



SERMONS, 



When the multitudes gathered around the Saviour 
heard Him speak thus, there were two classes of per- 
sons known to them as aspiring to inherit the earth. 
The Romans sought universal dominion. Rome was the 
mistress of Galilee, as of Judea and all Syria ; and far 
beyond the limits of those provinces, her empire ex- 
tended to the very limits of the discovered world. The 
men who represented this vast power to the eyes of the 
simple Jewish peasantry — the soldiers who garrisoned 
their large towns, and the tax-gatherers who made their 
way into their humblest villages — showed by their very 
look and bearing that they regarded themselves as own- 
ers of all things. They trod the soil with the air of con- 
querors, and pressed their severe exactions as those who 
would brook no denial. To all appearance, Rome had 
already reached universal command. A hundred millions 
of the human race bowed to the will of Tiberius in un- 
questioning submission. Who but the lordly, indomita- 
ble Romans could expect to inherit the earth ? But this 
was also the expectation of another class of men. The 
Pharisees, the sect among the Jews that professed the 
most zealous devotion to the faith of Israel, and cher- 
ished with the utmost intensity the national hopes, 
looked forward confidently to a time when the chil- 
dren of Abraham should have dominion over all the 
tribes of mankind. They waited for the coming of their 
Messiah, a prince whose throne should be established on 
the ruins of all other monarchies, and before whose scep- 
tre even the feared and hated Rome would quail and 
flee. The Pharisee vied with the Roman himself in 
pride. Swollen with a sense of his superiority to the 
Gentile idolater, he met the scorn of the conquering race 
with the scorn of a race destined to final and glorious 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 



H7 



supremacy. And if indeed the promise made to the 
fathers was to be fulfilled, and David's greater Son was 
to come and set up in Jerusalem a kingdom that should 
stretch " from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends 
of the earth," who like the Pharisee could be justified, 
with his superior knowledge of the law and the prophe- 
cies, and his prospect of a high standing in the favor 
of the expected Messiah, in lofty thoughts of himself, 
and in passionate resentment of the injuries done to his 
people by the enemies of Israel and of Israel's God ? 

But the character described by the Saviour in this 
Beatitude suited the Pharisee as little as it suited the 
Roman. " Blessed are the meek," said Jesus, " for they 
shall inherit the earth." The disciples and the multitudes 
that heard this must have felt a glad surprise. The 
promise was not altogether new. It recalled familiar 
sayings in the Psalms, and in the prophecies that were 
read every Sabbath-day in the Jewish synagogues. 
Christ's hearers remembered how it was written, in the 
Psalms, "The Lord lifteth up the meek; He will beau- 
tify the meek with salvation. The meek will He guide 
in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way." 
Nay, the very promise which the Saviour introduced into 
this Beatitude was taken from the Thirty-seventh Psalm : 
" The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight 
themselves in the abundance of peace." And prophecy 
had spoken of the meek. It had described the coming 
Saviour as having special purposes of mercy for them. 
Isaiah represented Him as saying: " The Lord hath 
anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek," and, 
speaking of the time of His coming, had said : " In that 
day the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and 
the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of 



148 



SERMONS. 



Israel." Must it not have been happiness to every 
lowly heart, to every quiet spirit which, empty of self-es- 
teem, and worldly ambition, and bitter hatred, was ready 
to take upon it Christ's easy yoke, to hear these words of 
Jesus ; to realize that this was, indeed, He of whom such 
things had been said ; and to learn that in His kingdom 
there were to be provided blessings so vast for the meek 
— blessings that were dimly intimated in that marvellous 
promise which the mind could but imperfectly take in : 
" They shall inherit the earth " ? 

There are many precious meanings contained in this 
promise, and they have been brought forth into the 
light with growing distinctness and beauty ever since the 
words were uttered: "The earth is the Lord's," and 
man can claim it, and hold it in rightful possession, only 
by inheritance from Him. Those who have God for 
their Father, and to whom all men are brethren ; who 
are Christlike in spirit ; whom His grace has renewed, 
expelling from their hearts all enmity and indifference 
toward God, all envy and uncharitableness toward men, 
bringing them into a state of submission to His will that 
precludes all complaint of His dealings, all dissatisfaction 
with His appointments, and breathing into their souls a 
benevolence toward men, that is proof against the power 
of unkindness or malignity to weaken or to convert into 
hatred or revenge, are the children of the Highest, 
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; and all things 
are theirs. They are passing through this world on 
their way to a heavenly kingdom ; but the relation in 
which they stand to the Maker and Governor of this 
world gives them an interest in it, and should yield to 
them a delight in it, that only they can share. It is not 
for want of encouragement in the Bible thus to regard 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 



I49 



this earth and the blessings of this life that any Christian 
fails to make the experience his own which the poet 
Cowper has described as that of a child of God : 

' ' He looks abroad into the varied field 
Of nature, and tho' poor perhaps compared 
"With those whose mansions glitter in his sight, 
Calls the delightful scenery all his own. 
His are the mountains, and the valleys his, 
And the resplendent rivers, his to enjoy 
With a propriety that none can feel, 
But who, with filial confidence inspired, 
Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye, 
And, smiling, say : My Father made them all ! " 

Meekness is a characteristic of one who has been brought 
into this endearing relation with the Maker of this beau- 
tiful world ; and it is in the exercise of this grace that he 
can taste this pure happiness. Let the mind swerve from 
its loyal submission to that Maker, and admit repining 
and rebellious thoughts of Him ; or let its peace be 
broken — not by the injustice or the ingratitude of man, 
but by cherished feelings of resentment and displeasure — 
and this blessedness will be dispelled. It is a peace that 
flies from the breast when the gentle spirit of contentment 
and forgiveness departs. But while the Christian walks 
humbly with his God and lives in charity with his fellow- 
man, all things are his, things present and things to come. 
Revenues of pure enjoyment are flowing in to him from 
the world around him. He finds rest to his soul in a 
childlike acquiescence with the will of his Father, and the 
promise is fulfilled to him, that "the meek shall inherit 
the earth." 

The promise is to the Church in its work of subduing 
this world to the obedience of Christ. " The meek shall 
inherit the earth." Every inch that has been gained in 



i5o 



SERMONS. 



seeking to rescue this world from the dominion of sin and 
ignorance has been gained by patient, self-denying effort 
put forth in the spirit of that charity that suffereth all 
things, endureth long and is kind, is not easily provoked. 
The successful toilers in this work have been the meek. 
When the self-willed and the vain-glorious affect to de- 
spise that lowly grace, which can suffer and keep silent, 
which can take an affront without retaliation, let them 
turn and look at the displays of meekness that mankind 
has witnessed these eighteen hundred years, and is wit- 
nessing to-day. 

Let them behold its beauty and its power, as it ap- 
peared in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the charm 
that drew to Him great multitudes who had this prep- 
aration to enter His kingdom, that under the teaching 
of poverty and obscurity and humiliation they had learned 
something of submission and lowliness and quiet endu- 
rance, and who when they heard Him say: " Come unto 
Me, for I am meek and lowly," felt the force of the argu- 
ment, and came to Him. But it was the power also that 
broke down the pride and self-sufficiency of many of the 
worldly-wise and the self-righteous, who when they saw 
Him, that " when He was reviled, reviled not again, when 
He suffered, He threatened not," felt the conquering force 
of His meekness, and yielded to His subduing love. And 
the men and the women who have followed in Christ's 
steps, have proved the efficiency and the excellence of 
the same blessed principle. The manifest condition of 
all success in work for Christ among the poor and de- 
based in Christian and in heathen lands, is Meekness. 
The world has learned to praise the missionary who 
plunges into the wretchedness of barbarous tribes, and 
spends his life in efforts to enlighten and save men. But 



BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. 



151 



in recognizing a Livingston or a Pattison as a hero, the 
world has unconsciously recognized the heroism of meek- 
ness. The man who devotes himself to such a career is 
brought in contact with human weakness and wicked- 
ness, with no defence but an inexhaustible patience and 
a love that will not be repelled. The daily and hourly 
vexations and disappointments and rebuffs he must en- 
counter could not be borne by a spirit, however strongly 
curbed and steadily controlled, that had not been tem- 
pered by the grace of God to the quality of a Christlike 
meekness. And going forth in this spirit, the servants of 
Christ go forward to certain and glorious success. " The 
meek shall inherit the earth." All efforts to Christianize 
mankind proceeding on other lines of action have failed 
and must certainly fail. The sword has won no victories 
for the faith of the Gospel. Men have been dragooned 
into a religious profession, but never into a religious per- 
suasion. The " booted missionaries " of Charles the Sec- 
ond in Scotland and of Louis the Fourteenth in France, 
made martyrs and exiles, but no true converts. But the 
cause of Christ, advocated with the gentleness of Christ, 
attested by the self-devotion that His example inspires, 
shall win the day. 

My brethren, let us cultivate this grace of meekness. 
There was never more need of it than there is at the 
present day. In an age of such intense activity as this 
the appeals are constant to self-interest and ambition. 
The spirit of emulation and rivalry, the greed of gain, 
the brooding dissatisfaction with things possessed, the 
craving for material good of every kind, is wide-spread 
and pervading. Never was it more important, for the 
Christian's peace and for his usefulness, that he should 
possess and show forth the meekness that is Christlike. 



152 



SERMONS. 



Let us cultivate it. Let us seek to have a truer concep- 
tion of the temper of mind that is suitable to our 
earthly condition and to our eternal prospects. Men are 
coming to have, in general, truer ideas on this sub- 
ject. There has been great progress in public opinion 
throughout the civilized world with reference to the nature 
of true manliness. The age of the duel has past ; the age 
of warfare is passing. Men are coming to understand the 
nobleness and the might of gentle methods, the moral 
grandeur of self-restraint. The Son of Man has been 
saying, these eighteen hundred years, to humanity: 
" Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and 
ye shall find rest to your souls." And humanity is learn- 
ing the lesson. Let us as Christians echo our Master's 
word, illustrate it, and enforce it. O for more of the 
meekness of Christ ! May the blessedness be ours of a 
spirit contented and submissive, satisfied with the holy 
will of the Lord we serve ! May the blessedness be ours 
of a spirit patient, forbearing, forgiving, under whatever 
trials we may be called by His appointment to endure at 
the hands of our fellow-men ! May the blessedness be 
ours of realizing from day to day that we are in God's 
world, under God's care, and therefore safe and at peace, 
and that we belong to the number of those to whom He 
has promised an eternal glory, when the " new heavens 
and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness " shall 
be revealed ! 



VI. 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 

2 Corinthians i. 3. 
" The God of all comfort." 

This language associates the thought of comfort with 
the thought of God ; and the connection of these two 
ideas supplies our present theme. True consolation is 
divine. It is one of those good and perfect gifts that 
come from the Father of lights. We must look up, to 
invite and to receive it ; and looking up we see Him who 
bestows it in a character most attractive and endearing, 
as the " Father of mercies," and in particular, "the God 
of all comfort." 

The subject thus stated may seem to commend itself 
to a special class among the hearers of the Gospel. There 
are occasions upon which it is manifestly proper that the 
preacher of the Gospel should address special classes of 
hearers, as the young, the aged, the men of business, the 
unconverted, the active membership of the church. This 
would be a fitting time in which to speak to the afflicted. 
Those among us in this church and community who 
have lately experienced bereavement — how natural that 
we should speak to them of comfort ! How natural that 
we should point them to the God of all comfort! A ser- 

153 



154 



SERMONS. 



mon addressed to these might be listened to by others 
with sympathetic interest, with recognition of its appro- 
priateness, yet at the same time under an impression 
of its exclusive reference to the bereaved. But the ap- 
plication of our subject, dear friends, is not thus limited. 
That subject claims the attention of every hearer in this 
congregation. Each one of us needs either to be sup- 
ported under present trial or prepared for trials that are 
inevitably in the future ; and all, whether actually expe- 
riencing affliction or not, need to be acquainted with the 
provision that exists for the relief of trouble, in order 
that they may be helpful to others. Indeed, this last 
consideration is the leading one in the passage of Scrip- 
ture where our text occurs. St. Paul rejoices in the God 
of all comfort as comforting him in order that he may be 
the better qualified to comfort others. It seemed to him 
worth while to have passed through very much of suffer- 
ing and mental conflict, that he might know how to tell 
others, out of his own living experience, of the divine 
consolation that he had found so full and satisfying; and 
if there be one here who stands consciously in no per- 
sonal need of those consolations by reason of any pres- 
ent grief, any remembered grief, yet, I say, it would be 
worth his while to learn what the Bible proclaims con- 
cerning the God of all comfort, that in his privileged ex- 
emption from the common lot, in his immunity from 
trouble, he might be able to feel for others and to speak 
to them some word as from that God. 

But, my brethren, as the case stands, there is no such 
immunity. In this life of ours, as on this earth of ours, 
there are perpetual alternations of light and shade. 
Hemispheres of day are followed by hemispheres of 
darkness. Some men, indeed, are dwelling this moment 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 



in a world that seems flooded with sunshine. For a few 
it is high noon. All the surroundings are prosperous 
and joyous. And the heart is saying to itself : " I shall 
never be in adversity." But this meridian of prosperity 
is only a narrow and shifting line from which those who 
have reached it must hasten toward the setting ; and 
everywhere else, everywhere else, the shadows are ad- 
vancing or retreating, or darkness covers the land. To 
forget this, to forget while the little season of brightness 
lasts that elsewhere there is obscurity, and that even to 
us also the night cometh, is unreasonable and selfish. 
Intelligent minds and feeling hearts cannot refuse to 
know and to remember that in this world trouble abounds. 
Are you free from it just now? Be glad and thankful, 
but do not try to banish from your thought either the 
possibility of trouble to yourself or the actuality of trou- 
ble around you. Does this thought disturb your happi- 
ness ? The kind of happiness which this thought would 
disturb is one which you have no right to enjoy. It is 
not for mortals, in a world where sin exists and death 
reigns, to close their eyes to the fact that humanity 
stands in need of consolation. 

Let me ask you, then, to notice first the claim that is 
made in our text in behalf of the infinite God, that He is 
the only source of this blessing for His creatures. He is 
the God of all comfort. If there be any truth, any 
thought or word, that is capable of imparting peace and 
hope and strength to a troubled human heart, it comes 
from Him, relates to Him. God has the monopoly of all 
consolation. It is His prerogative to cheer and bless the 
children of affliction. He has not given this right to an- 
other. He neither sends us elsewhere for comfort, nor 
suffers us to find elsewhere what we need. The pleasures 



156 



SERMONS. 



of sin cannot meet this want. He who shall try the ex- 
periment of seeking relief from sadness and sorrow amid 
the frivolities or the excesses of a worldly life, will have 
to say at last : " Miserable comforters are ye all." " The 
world can never give the bliss for which we sigh." Nature 
in its gentlest moods, as in its grandest, confesses : " It is 
not in me." How often has the mourner felt that the 
beauty, the serenity, the majesty of nature was all out of 
keeping with his grief ! No tender, pitying voice came 
through its peaceful stillness to quiet the tumult of his 
soul. Only God can comfort. For only He can exert 
upon the mind that inward influence that can calm its 
distress. He alone can furnish the hopes that offset the 
fears and woes that afflict us. None but God can relieve 
us of our troubles by removing the occasion for sorrow 
and apprehension ; and only He can so nerve and uplift 
the soul that it shall be able bear the trouble which He 
does not see fit to remove, submissively, cheerfully, tri- 
umphantly rejoicing in the midst of tribulation, because 
He is its God. It is folly, madness, for man, who is born 
to trouble, to say in his prosperity : " I shall never be in 
adversity." But it is the blessedness of the man who has 
God, the God of all comfort, for his Friend, that he can 
say: " Lord, Thou hast known my soul in adversities. 
In the multitude of my thoughts — my anxious, sorrowful, 
distressing thoughts — within me, Thy comforts delight 
my soul. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all 
comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation." 

Does it seem to us that there is something almost arbi- 
trary, on our Maker's part, thus to shut us off from all 
other sources of comfort, and force us to resort to Him 
for all true and lasting peace — all consolation ? So far 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 



157 



from this, my brethren, it is, rightly viewed, the highest 
evidence of our Maker's compassion and benevolence, 
that He thus deals with us. He would have us come to 
Him in our necessity, because with Him there is infinite 
fulness to meet our want, and because He is infinitely 
desirous to bless us. He is "the Father of lights," and 
He is " the God of all comfort "; and as we are dependent 
on Him for the light and the breath and the bread of life, 
and every form of temporal good, so are we dependent on 
Him for help and relief in the sorrows and perplexities of 
the soul; and as He would have us look to Him for 
daily blessings, so He would have us come to Him in 
trouble for consolation. And our trials are messengers 
that bring us this invitation from Him. Afflictions have 
a speech and a language that often make themselves un- 
derstood where other voices are not heard. They bear 
witness concerning this God of consolation. They bid us 
come unto Him when laboring and heavy-laden. The 
proof that they have this mission, that they carry this in- 
vitation, lies in the fact that so often the mission is suc- 
cessful, the invitation is accepted. Men in their trouble 
do seek the Lord. He is the God of all comfort ; and 
sorrowing hearts are constrained to turn to Him. This 
is the appointed purpose of Trial, and often we are per- 
mitted to see and to rejoice in the accomplishment of the 
purpose. The worldliness, the skepticism, the utter hos- 
tility to religion, that held the mind and heart away from 
all influences of the Church and the Bible and the min- 
istry, broke down when death entered the home, and 
when yearning affection could reach out no further, 
without God's help, than the new-made grave where a 
cherished form had been laid away. Thank God that so 
often it has been thus ; and that in the results of sancti- 



i 5 8 



SERMONS. 



fled affliction we may read in part at least the wisdom 
and loving-kindness of our Maker in compelling us to 
come to Him for " all comfort " ! 

I have asked you to consider the claim that is put 
forth in our text, in behalf of the infinite God, as the one 
source of this blessing for His creatures. Let me ask 
you to consider, in the next place, how this claim is made 
good ; how it is that He who alone possesses the re- 
sources of consolation that His creatures need, dispenses, 
imparts them ; what are the grounds of comfort that we 
have in Him ? And first, I remark, this claim is made 
good by the discovery that God has made of Himself to 
us, in statements like that of our text. There is ground 
of comfort for us in the very name by which, here and 
elsewhere, He calls Himself, as " the God of consolation ; 
God, that comforteth those that are cast down ; the 
Father of mercies." These are synonyms for the great 
Jehovah, the Maker and Ruler of all, the glorious Sover- 
eign of the universe. Translated into the language that 
may best reach the heart of the child of sorrow in his 
need of Divine help, the name of this High and Lofty 
One is The God of all comfort. This designation at once 
invests the character of our Maker with a surprising in- 
terest for all those who need such a God, and for all who 
know Him as their God. As there are human names that 
bring to us immediately the thought of a personal and 
unquestionable sympathy, so that there is no occasion 
for introducing them with any qualifying word, or ac- 
companying them with any assurance of kindness and 
helpfulness ; as there are names so hallowed by associa- 
tion with all that is true and noble that the very mention 
of them awakens confidence and gladness ; as there are 
names that live in the memory as motives to earnest and 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 



159 



hopeful endeavor, so to the child of God, who has made 
himself familiar, through the study of the Bible, with the 
character of God, and who has had much habitual com- 
munion with God in prayer, so that he has come to 
think of prayer as the very chiefest source and spring of 
all consolation for him, God's name is a consolation in 
itself. It is joy to think that there is such a Being. It 
is joy to think that we have such a God. It is happiness 
to know that this Being will never change. Sorrow and 
loss may befall the Christian ; but no such loss and sor- 
row can ever befall him, as that God should cease to be 
God — the God of all comfort — to him. What power 
there is in this thought to cheer and strengthen the be- 
liever, we may learn from some of the hymns which we 
occasionally sing, but always, I doubt not, with the feel- 
ing that we fail to realize in its fulness the sentiment 
which the writer of the hymn puts into it — the great de- 
light that he found in the thought of the infinite and 
glorious One who condescended to make Himself known 
to him as his Father and his Friend. So in the hymn of 
Isaac Watts, beginning : 

" My God, the Spring of all my joys, 
The Life of my delights, 
The Glory of my brightest days, 
And Comfort of my nights." 

And so in that hymn of Faber, written a hundred 
and forty years later, but breathing the self-same spirit : 

" Only to sit and think of God, 
O what a joy it is ! 
To think the thought, to breathe the name, 
Earth has no higher bliss." 

Would you know what a charm there is in that blessed 
name, uttered in faith and adoring love, to call forth 



i6o 



SERMONS. 



fountains of consolation in the midst of the dreariest ex- 
periences of human life? Read David's psalms and 
Paul's epistles. See how every consideration of comfort 
for the troubled soul centres in God. See how in almost 
every sentence of psalm and epistle the Divine name 
comes in, as the one precious, gladdening, sustaining, in- 
spiring thought. And so it shall be with you, Christian, 
if by converse with Him in prayer, and acquaintance with 
Him through His word, you shall accustom yourself to 
this glorious thought. Then the Lord, thy dwelling- 
place, shall be thy refuge in trouble, the God of all com- 
fort, to thee. 

A second comforting consideration is the thought of 
the Divine sovereignty. It is the thought that He whose 
very name is a strong consolation for His people, governs 
and manages with absolute power and wisdom and equity 
all their concerns. " The Lord reigneth " ; and the fact 
that He reigns, the fact of His providential government, 
is a consoling truth that will grow in sweetness and in 
soothing efficacy, the longer we study it. " Comfort ye, 
comfort ye, My people," said the Lord to His people by 
the mouth of the prophet; and the message that should 
bring joy and gladness to Zion was: " Thy God reigneth ! iy 
Infinite righteousness, infinite love, is on the throne; and 
no interest of His submissive and obedient creature shall 
suffer in the hands of Him who holds the sceptre. Is it 
so? May I believe — nay, must I believe — that the very 
trials that befall me are appointed by the God who made 
me, and who exercises a loving care over all my life ; and 
that, in sending these, He is the same wise and faithful 
Ruler, the same compassionate Friend, as in sending joy 
and prosperity? Surely there is comfort in the thought, 

A third ground of comfort is the word of God. One 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 



161 



of the many excellences of the Bible is the great wealth 
of consolatory truth it is stored with. We might conceive 
of a Bible without this. There might be a Divine revela- 
tion containing little of consolatorv truth. There mi^ht 
be prophecy here, and history, and doctrine, and law, with 
little or nothing of promise, of cheering invitation and 
gracious assurance. But as God has given this Book to 
us, it is filled with exceeding great and precious promises. 
Who ever took it up when troubled, and needing to be 
comforted, and, searching these pages, failed to find the 
teachings that were suited to encourage and refresh — 
failed to 

"Light on some sweet promise there, 
Some sure support against despair " ? 

These promises are God's everlasting consolations. 
Accepting this Book as His word, we receive from His 
own lips the faithful and true sayings that are as balm to 
the wounded heart. And in the measure of the con- 
fidence, the simple trust, with which we so accept the 
Scriptures, our comfort abounds. In times of sore per- 
secution, and in times of deep poverty, such as God's 
people have often passed through, it has been because, 
shut up to this one resource, they have in simplicity and 
quiet confidence looked and hearkened to these blessed 
Bible teachings, that they have been so wonderfully sup- 
ported, and have been enabled to rejoice even in tribula- 
tion. And we can see much wisdom and goodness in 
the manner in which this Divine comfort is ministered to 
us in the Bible. Not only through those statements and 
those declarations which we distinguish as promises, but 
in other forms as well. " Whatsoever things were written 
aforetime," says the apostle, "were written for our learn- 
ing, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scrip- 



SERMONS. 



tures, might have hope." Many a believer has taken 
one and another of the tried and troubled saints whose 
story is told in the Bible, as examples of suffering afflic- 
tion. There is comfort in reading how God dealt with 
them : how He delivered them out of their distresses ; 
yes, and still more, how He sustained them while still in 
the midst of those distresses. The comfort comes, while 
as we read how the Lord dealt thus with them, we keep 
saying to ourselves: " This God is our God for ever and 
ever; He will be our Guide even unto death. Our fathers 
trusted in Him, and were not disappointed. He is our 
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." 
There is comfort in tracing the record of the Divine 
faithfulness in past ages. We see that the Lord has 
never forsaken the earth, never forgotten His Church. 
The foundations of truth and righteousness have never 
been overthrown. Religion has lived through dark and 
dreary days ; the cause of Christ has struggled with hosts 
of enemies ; and it will go on from conquest to conquest 
until the victory shall be complete. There is comfort in 
these representations which the Bible makes, of the king- 
dom of God in this world, changeful as the aspects of its 
conditions have been. And there is comfort unspeakable 
in what the Bible says of heaven. Here we have a " strong 
consolation" — in the hope that reaches into the eternal 
world, and takes hold of the joys and glories that are at 
God's right hand. "What is it," we say, as we read in 
the spirit of faith and expectation, about that life that is 
soon to begin for the child of God ; " what is it to bear 
the buffetings of earthly misfortune, the losses and priva- 
tions and bereavements of this present time?" 

" Soon and forever the breaking of day, 
Shall drive all the night-clouds of sorrow away." 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 



163 



The God of all comfort ministers consolation to His 
troubled children, through the revelations that His pre- 
cious Word makes to them of heaven. And it has been 
in looking away from the cares and sorrows of earth to that 
bright world, whose attractions are displayed to us in the 
Bible, that His people have renewed their strength, have 
dismissed their fears, have gathered patience and courage 
to finish their course. 

And in this Bible all truth that is suited to bless the 
children of trouble and sorrow centres in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The Father of Jesus is the God of all comfort. 
There could be none to deliver us from woe, were there 
not One who saves from sin. Our chief unhappiness arises 
from our unholiness. A troubled conscience ; a heart 
consciously unreconciled to God ; a mind bereft of clear 
and intelligent views of spiritual realities — dark with for- 
bodings of evil to come, of death and judgment and a 
dread eternity, — these are the sources of much of the 
wretchedness in this world that calls for the interposition 
of a God who can relieve it. This is what Christ came 
to relieve. And in bearing our sins, He bore our sorrows. 
As we look to Him for the forgiveness of sins ; as in Him 
we behold the mercy and loving-kindness of a pardoning 
God, the burden of our earthly trial grows lighter. As- 
sured of His love, drawn into blessed sympathy and fellow- 
ship with him, we grow stronger to endure the griefs and 
vexations of the present hour. To the troubled conscience, 
to the heart disturbed by a sense of separation and dis- 
tance from its Maker, Christ speaks the word of pardon, the 
word of peace ; and when that is done, the sharpness of all 
possible suffering for the soul is blunted; the sting is re- 
moved from every grief. " For when He giveth quietness, 
who then can make trouble ? Who shall separate us — 



164 



SERMONS. 



what shall separate us from the love of Christ ? — tribula- 
tion, distress, persecution, want ? " O dear friends, our 
first need, as mourners and sufferers, is to hear that blessed 
pardoning word from Him who has delivered us from sin ; 
to hear it afresh if we have heard it already ; to gain 
comfort in the precious thought that we are God's chil- 
dren, brought home to Him, and forever dear to Him, 
never to be forsaken, never to be forgotten by Him, 
That word Jesus speaks ; and it is the matchless word of 
comfort for aching hearts. 

" When Jesus speaks, so sweet the sound, 

The harps of heaven are hushed to hear, 
And all His words go circling round 

From lip to lip, and ear to ear. 
But wondering seraph never heard, 

In all the mighty years of heaven, 
Music so sweet as that dear word, 

' Thy many sins are all forgiven.' 
Sinners of earth, redeemed by blood, 

How leaped your hearts, when first ye knew 
The amazing grace, and understood 

The gift of pardon was for you ? 
Adopted now, with spirits awed, 

Knowing your privilege unpriced, 
Ye claim the fatherhood of God 

And blessed brotherhood of Christ." 

These consolations which we have in God, in His 
name, His government, His word, His Son, are minis- 
tered to us by His Spirit. That which completes the 
fitness of the religion of the Gospel as a religion for the 
troubled and tempted children of men, is the fact that it 
reveals the Blessed Comforter, who brings these truths 
to our minds, and enables us to receive them and rest 
upon them. Of all the offices of friendship, the most 
privileged, the most sacred and tender, is that of conso- 



THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. 



I6 5 



lation. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled this office for 
His disciples when He was on earth ; and when He was 
about to leave them He promised them " another Com- 
forter, who should abide with them forever, even the 
Spirit of truth." And it is by God's Spirit that God's 
comfort is brought home to the hearts of His children. 
His influence it is that makes the truth of God's being 
and God's excellence a comforting truth to the Christian. 
The Spirit of adoption teaches us to cry, " Abba, 
Father!" He endears to us the name of the glorious 
God, and enables us to breathe it with loving reverence 
and holy satisfaction. The thought that God reigns, 
and that I am safe under the care of omnipotent Love, 
is a thought which the Holy Spirit imparts to me. He 
makes this truth a shining reality to me. He brings 
home to me the teachings of the Bible. God's promises 
are sealed to me by the Holy Spirit. He enables me to 
read, as meant for my own encouragement and enlighten- 
ment, the record of the dealings of God with His people 
in former days. He helps me to look believingly and 
gratefully to Jesus, the sinner's Saviour and the mourn- 
er's Friend. To have all comfort in God, who is the God 
of all comfort, I need but to open my heart to that 
blessed Spirit whose very name is The Comforter. O 
that all our hearts may be made accessible to Him — that 
He may dwell in us henceforth and forever ! 



VII. 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

I Corinthians ii. 16. 
" But we have the mind of Christ." 

There is a meaning that lies on the surface of these 
words, and that accords with one of our ordinary forms 
of expression. By the mind we sometimes understand 
the thoughts, impressions, feelings, or what is in the 
mind, and thus " the mind of Christ " may mean the 
thoughts and sentiments, the opinions and the judgments 
of Christ. These are made known to us in the Scriptures 
of the New Testament, and we have them as they are 
revealed there, and as we have learned them and im- 
bibed them from that source. We are accustomed to 
use language like this when we speak of possessing the 
views and sharing the counsels of another. A statesman 
enjoying the confidence of his sovereign, is said to have 
the mind of the sovereign upon questions of public in- 
terest. A student capable of grasping the argument of a 
profound work may be said to have the mind of its 
author. 

It is much to be able to say this — if this be indeed 
what the apostle means here to say — as it regards the 
Christian and his Redeemer. We possess in the written 
word of God a statement of the thoughts and sentiments, 

166 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 



167 



the purposes and the judgments, of Him whose servants 
we are, and whose designs we are endeavoring to carry 
out. His mind, upon all the themes of vital moment that 
are perpetually coming up for human consideration, is the 
same to-day as when He taught on earth, or communi- 
cated His will from heaven to men inspired to declare it. 
We have His thoughts here in the Bible ; and when, be- 
lievingly and adoringly, we read the Bible, appropriating 
its truths, assimilating them by faith, and so making them 
our own, we have the mind of Christ ; we think His 
thoughts after Him ; we are admitted into a wonder- 
ful partnership with Him in His wise and gracious coun- 
sels. What a privilege is this ! What importance, when 
we look at it in this light, belongs to the study of Scrip- 
ture, by means of which we can thus come into posses- 
sion of the ideas of the Divine Teacher, and have our un- 
derstanding so stored with His words, and so permeated 
by the spirit of His teachings, that all our beliefs, impres- 
sions, purposes shall be shaped and vivified by the truth 
as it is in Jesus ! 

But in saying this, we are approaching what, I think, is 
a deeper meaning of our text, and one that is still more 
instructive and suggestive. The mind, in man, is the 
thinking faculty, the soul. And now what, according 
to the Bible, does the grace of God do for the mind 
of man, when it becomes the subject of His work of 
grace ? A change is wrought, not indeed in the sub- 
stance, but in the reigning and determining dispositions 
of the soul. The purposes, the desires, the volitions, 
that make up the character, the moral being, are dif- 
ferent from what they were before that work of grace 
began. The Christian, in this sense, is a new man. He 
has experienced what the Bible calls a " renewing of the 



SERMONS. 



mind." He has acquired "a spiritual mind," or one in 
sympathy with spiritual things. He has a sober mind, a 
lowly mind, a willing mind. He is of one mind with his 
fellow-Christians. This work of renewal, of moral recon- 
struction, is wrought according to a pattern, and that 
pattern is the mind of Christ. So far as the Christian 
responds to the operation of almighty grace upon him, 
he becomes Christlike in the dispositions of his soul. 
Not sinless ; not free from the liability to mistake and 
error; yet sustaining, in his sympathies and affections, 
his ruling desires and aspirations, a positive and an un- 
mistakable resemblance to his Lord. He has gained the 
faculty, and he is forming the habit, of looking at things 
as Christ regards them. Life has the same significance to 
his eyes that it had to the eyes of Christ. The great ends 
of human existence are in his view just what they were to 
Christ's view. All moral distinctions are to him what 
they were to Christ. His estimate of sin and of right- 
eousness is none other than his Saviour's. The claims of 
duty are to him what they were to Jesus. The whole 
subject of trial, of sorrow, of suffering, wears to him the 
aspect that it wore to Christ. His outlook upon the 
future is Christ's outlook. His impressions of death 
and eternity correspond with the impressions of these 
realities that lay in the mind of Christ. In this import- 
ant sense he may be said to have the mind of Christ. 
The thinking faculty in the man who has become the 
subject of God's grace is " renewed, after the image of 
Him that created him." Distantly, indeed, imperfectly, in- 
deed, yet really, nevertheless, it reflects the lineaments of 
God's dear Son. It is " the same mind that was in Christ 
Jesus." 

Now, taking this to be the apostle's meaning, we can 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 



169 



well understand with what satisfaction he makes the 
statement of our text, as a ground for clinging to his 
convictions of truth and duty, when assailed by the 
enemies of the Gospel. It had been brought up against 
him, that he was wanting in scholarship and culture, and 
in the graces of style and oratory. Among the Greeks, 
the most polished and the most intellectual people of 
that age ; and in Corinth, the chief city of Greece at that 
day, as the home of philosophy, and eloquence, and art, 
St. Paul was charged by some who had nominally em- 
braced the Gospel, with narrowness of thought and rude- 
ness of speech. They compared him unfavorably With 
certain other teachers, as Apollos, for example, who had 
the advantage, as they deemed it, of a training in the 
logic and rhetoric of the heathen schools. St. Paul made 
no show of learning. He laid no claim to practical elo- 
quence. He disregarded the established methods of 
reasoning. His preaching, consequently, was to the 
learned and the cultivated among the heathen, "foolish- 
ness," without attraction to their taste, without recom- 
mendation to their reason. These charges were made 
in order to weaken the apostle's authority as a religious 
teacher. Because he did not resort to the "wisdom of 
this world" to embellish and enforce his preaching; be- 
cause he did not deck it with flowers of rhetoric and 
gems of classic learning ; because he did not interweave 
it with the doctrines which human reason, unaided by 
any Divine revelation, had sought out, and which human 
reason delighted to pursue and to contemplate, Paul's 
enemies argued that he was undeserving of the confi- 
dence and obedience of the Corinthian Church. The 
apostle in replying to these accusations, does not at- 
tempt to claim credit for the endowments in which he 



170 



SERMONS. 



was said to be lacking — scholarship, or eloquence, or em- 
inent reasoning powers. He grants all that has been said 
on this score by those who denied his apostleship. He 
was no philosopher, no orator, no rhetorician. He calls 
on the Corinthians themselves to bear evidence that he 
had made no pretension of this kind while with them. 
" And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with 
excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming unto you 
the mystery of God. For I determined not to know any 
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 
And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much 
trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not 
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstra- 
tion of the Spirit, and of power." He had never affected 
to be what some denounced him for failing to be. He 
was no philosopher, no orator, no rhetorician. But he 
was a witness. At this point, and with this claim, Paul 
turns upon his accusers. If he had not proved himself 
versed in human learning, he had proclaimed divine and 
everlasting truths, such as human wisdom could not 
attain. If he had not dealt in arguments and specula- 
tions such as the wise of this world were pleased to use, 
his preaching had been accompanied by the influences of 
the Holy Spirit of God, working conviction of saving 
truth in hearts that admitted those influences. " How- 
beit," he adds, "we speak wisdom among them that are 
perfect." Christianity is the true wisdom. Its truths are 
glorious and precious truths. They are the highest and 
the all-important truths. And such they are recognized 
to be by those whose minds have been savingly enlight- 
ened to believe them, renewed and purified to embrace 
them. Without this enlightenment and renewal, it is 
impossible to know and prize these truths as they deserve 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 



to be known and prized. For "the natural man " — the 
unrenewed man, be he ever so intelligent and culti- 
vated — " receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned." But let that mind be cleared of the corrup- 
tions that defile it, the prejudices that distort it, the igno- 
rance upon moral and eternal themes that darkens it ; let 
it be brought into sympathy and likeness with the mind 
of the sinless and holy Son of God, and it will have no 
difficulty in admitting these truths ; they will come to it 
with self-evidencing power. And so, declares the apos- 
tle, so it is with us, who have been taught by the Spirit, 
and led to accept Christ as our Redeemer and our Ex- 
ample. " We have the mind of Christ." The truths of 
the Gospel are to us what they are to Him. They affect 
us as they affected Him. If they were realities for Him, 
they are the self-same realities for us. The light cast 
upon them in the Bible, was the white light of a Divine 
revelation, and that light has shined into our hearts. 
" We have the mind of Christ." We are of His way of 
thinking. We are in constant, living sympathy with Him. 
Sin is to us what it was and is to Him. Holiness is to us 
what it was and is to Him. Life, and death, and eter- 
nity, duty and destiny, happiness and sorrow, have to us 
the significance they had to Him when on earth, and have 
to Him now in heaven. The moral principles that make 
up the fibre of our moral being, are identical with those 
that were proper to the human soul of the Lord Jesus. 
We bear His moral image. He is our Wisdom. Our 
highest knowledge is to know Him. 

Now, to those who share in the experience of the apos- 
tle Paul, and who may adopt his language on this subject, 
it cannot appear strange that he should easily let go 



172 



SERMONS. 



every other claim and cheerfully consent to be character- 
ized and treated by the Corinthians, and by the whole 
world beside, as having no standing whatever in the 
esteem of mankind on the score of learning, or elo- 
quence, or literary skill. What if he could have boasted 
to these objectors of possessing the intellect of a Socra- 
tes, a Plato, or an Aristotle, when he could say, in 
common with all those of like precious faith with him : 
" We have the mind of Christ/' For notice that Paul 
does not stop here, as he does in another epistle, where 
he is arguing with Jewish teachers, to dispute the asser- 
tions of these Corinthian opposers, and to show that on 
the score of intellectual qualifications — as there on the 
score of Pharisaic orthodoxy — he might have somewhat 
to answer his accusers. He does not stop, as when 
writing to the Philippians, to say : " Though I might 
also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man 
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the 
flesh, I more." And yet one might think that this would 
be the very place for a defence of his character as a com- 
petent teacher of the Gentiles, similar to that vindica- 
tion of his character as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, which 
we read in the third chapter of the epistle to the Phil- 
ippians. What ! Paul inferior to the sophists and rheto- 
ricians of Corinth, in vigor of thought, in strength of 
reasoning, in masterly use of language ! How absurd 
the charge ! But he does not stop to answer it. What 
cared he about the place that might be given him or de- 
nied him among the thinkers and the writers of mankind 
when he could say of himself, and of his fellow-believer • 
" We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the 
spirit which is of God, that we might know the things 
that are freely given to us of God ? Which things also 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 



1 73 



we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth y 
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. For we have the 
mind of Christ." 

Many a man of towering intellect has felt the same 
satisfaction that Paul felt in view of this fact. To know 
Christ, and be known of Him ; to have caught His spirit ; 
to have come into living sympathy with Him ; to see God 
and Duty and Immortality as Christ sees them and has re- 
vealed them ; this for the wisest as for the simplest under- 
standing, is matter of supreme rejoicing. Gifts of genius 
and stores of learning sink out of sight when compared 
with this attainment, as the inequalities of a hilly region 
flatten out when viewed from a mountain peak. And the 
wonderful truth implied in our text, is that this privilege is 
for every disciple of Jesus. To be a Christian is to " have 
the mind of Christ." It is to receive the impress of his 
moral character. It is to have perceptions of truth, con- 
victions of duty, motives of action, hopes and joys and 
consolations that are Christlike. 

To one who is not a Christian, such a result, if attain- 
able, if conceivable, must certainly appear most desirable. 
For all men now agree in their estimate of the character 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Scarcely an infidel of note 
can be named who has not left on record his tribute to 
the matchless beauty of that character ; while among 
those who profess to believe in the divine origin of Chris- 
tianity, there is no shadow of difference on the subject. 
A remarkable testimony to this fact has been given 
recently. In the Congress of Churches at Hartford — a 
meeting of leading men representing most of the reli- 
gious bodies in our land — the closing and crowning dis- 
cussion related to the divinely-human character of Christ, 
Son of God and Son of man ; and here all voices blended. 



1 74 



SERMONS. 



all hearts bowed, in adoring praise of Him who is the 
liope and the glory of humanity. Now the religion of 
the Gospel has for its avowed aim to reproduce the char- 
acter of Christ in man's moral nature. Not only does it 
hold up the pattern of His beautiful perfection to be ad- 
mired and imitated by men, but it makes known that 
Holy Spirit who is the power of God to renew the hu- 
man heart in the image of Christ ; who grafts into the 
human heart the life, the holiness, the benevolence of 
the Saviour. This is the errand of Christianity ; this is 
the business of the Church ; this is the use of the Chris- 
tian ministry, of preaching, of the sacraments, of prayer, 
of Bible-reading ; this is the work of missions, home and 
foreign : it is to build up human character upon the 
model of the character of Jesus Christ ; and this, Chris- 
tians believe, is what the forces of Divine truth and 
grace are concurring with these instrumentalities in ac- 
complishing — renewing sinful and ignorant souls in the 
likeness of Jesus the Lord ; breathing into human hearts 
His purity, His gentleness, His love of the truth, His 
faith in the things unseen, His hatred of sin, His delight 
in holiness, His boundless benevolence, His spirit of self- 
sacrifice. Surely, to one who is not a Christian, such a 
result must seem most desirable. 

But, my friends, we see from our subject that a Chris- 
tian must necessarily be Christlike. A moral resem- 
blance to the holy Saviour, is what religion aims to pro- 
duce in the heart, and if it fails to accomplish this, it 
fails entirely. Our text implies this ; and elsewhere the 
statement is made in the strongest terms. " If any man 
have not the spirit of Christ," — His Spirit, dwelling in us, 
and forming in us His character, His temper, His disposi- 
tion, — " he is none of His." To bear the Saviour's name 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 



175 



without bearing His image, means nothing — worse than 
nothing, — for it means a lie. Have we " the mind of 
Christ," — His holy, benevolent, earnest, believing mind 
— His meek and lowly, compassionate mind — His sub- 
missive, obedient mind ? It is the surest test of the 
reality of religion in our hearts. It is the severest 
test : but reason and the Bible agree in declaring that it 
is none too severe. Nothing less than a similarity of moral 
character to Him who has come to " redeem us from all 
iniquity and purify us unto Himself," would correspond 
with the obvious purpose of Christ in coming to seek and 
to save sinners. For, according to the Gospel, character 
is the one essential thing. Without holiness, no man 
shall see God. Only the pure in heart are blessed. In 
Jesus Christ, rites and ceremonies, names and professions, 
avail nothing, " but faith which worketh by love." Char- 
acter is every thing, says the Bible : and reason echoes 
the declaration. Every system, every method, that fails 
to form character upon a noble plan, breaks down com- 
pletely. All education, all civilization, all religion, that 
does not accomplish a moral renovation in man, proves 
itself insufficient. The Gospel aims to transform my 
heart and life, by bringing me to know Christ as my Sav- 
iour, by placing before me Christ as my Example ; by 
creating within me, through those omnipotent energies 
which it alone reveals, Christ as my Life, Christ in me, 
"the hope of glory." Now, as the result of the demon- 
stration of this work, is there any thing in me of percep- 
tible, recognizable resemblance to the character of God's 
dear Son ? It is a solemn, a searching, an urgent, an all- 
important question. 

In the second place, we may see from our subject that 
the Christian should study to be Christlike. This is the 



176 



SERMONS. 



first lesson to which the Master calls one whom He would 
have to be His disciple: "Learn of Me, for I am meek 
and lowly in heart " ; and it is the lesson of the Christian 
life all through. You may feel that you are lamentably 
wanting in positive and extensive resemblance to your 
Saviour. So often, and at so many points, you fail to ex- 
hibit and to exercise the mind of Christ. Especially, it 
may be, you are conscious of this failure as it respects 
the lowlier virtues of which He has given you the ex- 
ample. It is with reference to these very virtues that the 
Word of God says to you, " Let this mind be in you, 
which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of 
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; but 
made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the 
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; 
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled 
Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death 
of the cross." But in a mind so jealous of its own glory 
as yours, so anxious to compass its own ends, so impa- 
tient under rebuke, so quick to take offence, so easily 
puffed up by praise, what trace is there of the Pattern, 
in which humility was not less conspicuous than holiness, 
and gentleness, patience, pity, forgiveness, were blended 
with a majesty of a perfect wisdom and a matchless intel- 
ligence? Alas, you feel it, while still you venture to 
hope that Christ is enthroned in your affections, that you 
have believed and do believe on Him as your Redeemer, 
and do desire to be like Him. Then, study to be like 
Him. This is the work to which God invites you : and 
it is a work in which, earnestly pursuing it, you shall 
find success. Train yourself in Christlikeness. There is 
a sense in which this is to be done consciously, and 
another sense in which it may be done unconsciously. 
Fix your mind intelligently and resolutely upon your 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 



177 



high and glorious Example. Say to yourself, Christ was 
pure. Like Him, I will trample under foot the lusts of 
the flesh and the corruptions of the world. Say to your- 
self, Christ was meek and lowly in heart, I will school 
my feelings and desires to a lowliness like His. Say to 
yourself Christ was benevolent, I will give myself to 
works of usefulness after His example. Say to yourself, 
Christ pleased not Himself and therefore I will strive 
against my native selfishness. 

So, too, the Christian may be unconsciously coming to 
have more and more fully the mind of Christ. As he 
cultivates an interest in the truths of the Bible, in the 
progress of God's kingdom, in the exercises of personal 
piety, he shall enter into closer and closer sympathy 
with Jesus ; his views and feelings shall approximate 
increasingly his Master's ; and though perhaps his 
thoughts will be more occupied with the humiliating fact 
that so much remains in him that is unlike Christ, than 
with the joyful truth that the likeness is advancing, there 
will be in his character the evidence of a growing con- 
formity and coincidence with the mind of Christ ; and it 
may be that when least he expects it, the message will 
fall upon his ear, bidding him come up higher, for the 
work of grace is done, and the disciple shall be taken 
home to be with his Lord. O Christian, make it your 
aim to be Christlike. 

And then, finally, make this your glory. To have the 
mind of Christ is to know more, upon the highest and 
most vital themes of human thought, than even the ripe 
wisdom of our nineteenth century can pretend to know. 
Paul, in the presence of the learning and culture of his 
age, cried : " Where is the wise ? Where is the scribe ? 
Where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not God 
made foolish the wisdom of this world ? " " The wisdom 



i;8 



SERMONS. 



of this world ! " It could tell him little of the infinite 
God ; little of his relations to God as His creature ; 
nothing of the way for a sinner to be saved ; nothing 
of an immortality beyond the grave. It could do little 
for him, to help him in the path of self-improvement; 
nothing to renew his heart, and restore in him the lost 
image of his Creator. It could give him no hope of ever- 
lasting life. And so, in the presence of the scholarship 
and the intellectual culture of his own age, Paul gloried 
in the cross of Jesus Christ ; gloried in the Gospel of Je- 
sus Christ ; gloried in the assurance that Christians have 
the mind of Christ. And we, my brethren, if our trust is 
in the same living Son of God, may glory not less than 
he did, in the unchangeable truths which He has spoken 
to our souls. In the clearest light of this age of scientific 
inquiry and discovery, we have no more reason than Paul 
had in his day, to shrink from avowing, that our views of 
life, and death, and eternity are Christ's views ; that we 
are learners at His feet ; that our noblest ambition is to 
reproduce His character in our hearts and lives. Nay, 
rather, in a day when that matchless character more than 
ever before looms up to the admiration of mankind, and 
humanity, more clearly than ever before, recognizes in 
Him, whom the Jews and Greeks of Paul's day despised 
and derided, the incomparable beauty of a spotless excel- 
lence, let us glory in having Christ for our Pattern ; Christ 
for the Life of our souls. And let us remember that the 
best service we can render to that divine Master, who is 
even now drawing all men to Himself, as the centre of 
all human interest, is so to believe on His name, to breathe 
in His spirit, to copy His example, that we shall testify 
not only to His human excellence, but also to His divine 
power to renew and save all those who put their trust in 
Him. 



VIII. 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 

Jeremiah li. 50. 
" Let Jerusalem come into your mind." 

These words were spoken to the Jews when captives in 
Babylon. They were far from their native country. The 
period of their captivity was to be very long. Seventy 
years must be accomplished before the promise of God 
should be fulfilled to His people : " I wiii turn away 
your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, 
and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith 
the Lord ; and I will bring you again into the place 
whence I caused you to be carried away captive." But 
the land of their fathers must not be forgotten. The 
prophet, foretelling to the Jews their reverses, their de- 
feat and conquest by the king of Babylon, and their long 
banishment from home bids them, notwithstanding, "Re- 
member the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into 
your mind." 

We shall apply these words to Heaven. " Jerusalem 
which is above." says the apostle Paul, " is the mother of 
us all." " I saw," says the apostle John, " the holy city, 
new Jerusalem." Heaven is the city of God. Heaven 
is the country of the Christian. Here have we no con- 
tinuing city, but we seek one to come. Our conversa- 

179 



i8o 



SERMONS. 



tion, our citizenship, is in Heaven. Much of what the 
Bible says about the country and city that were so 
sacred and dear to God's ancient people, the Jews, is re- 
corded there for our good, as applicable to Heaven, 
the inheritance of God's children now, their real and 
everlasting abode, the place where soon they are to be 
gathered from all the places where now they are spend- 
ing the years of their exile and their homeward pilgrim- 
age. Giving this application 1 — certainly a legitimate 
one — to the words, how well may we heed them, and 
obey them, as a command to us, " Let Jerusalem come 
into your mind." 

First, as a thought welcomed. Constituted as we are, 
it can scarcely be otherwise than that our minds much of 
the time should be largely occupied about present con- 
cerns. Diligence in business requires this. Fidelity to 
duty requires it. We can do nothing well without giv- 
ing full attention to what we do. The Saviour has bid- 
den us take no thought, indulge in no over-anxious and 
tormenting fears for the morrow ; but He does not by 
this teach us to perform the labors of our calling listless- 
ly, mechanically, with our thoughts on something else 
than the occupations before us. True, it is a fault with 
many that they devote too much of their time to what 
are called secular pursuits. Business toils and cares 
crowd into a space altogether too narrow the season that 
should be reserved for rest, for mental culture, for home 
enjoyments, and especially for secret prayer and public 
worship. Less of hurry, less of intense and protracted 
exertion, less of wearing solicitude about earthly inter- 
ests, there ought indeed to be : and more of moderation 
in the pursuit of gain, more of contentment with such 
things as men have. And still, while shunning excessive 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 



181 



devotion to the things of time, men must bend their full 
energies to their work. The precept of the Bible applies 
to the labors of the daily calling, to the duties of the 
shop, the office, the farm, the school-room, as well as to 
those that are distinguished as sacred or religious : 
u Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might." Bible saints are our examples for industry, for 
painstaking, conscientious, persevering effort in week-day 
avocations, no less than for earnestness in holy things. 
If Paul the tent-maker labored with his own hands, as 
again and again he tells us that he did, working night 
and day, not only to support himself, but also minister- 
ing to the wants of his companions in the Gospel serv- 
ice, surely he gave all diligence to his work. And surely, 
of the years that Paul's Lord and Master spent at the 
carpenter's trade, we need not be told that they were 
years of industry ; that whatsoever He did, He did it 
heartily, as to His Father in Heaven. 

Now, under this necessity of toil and care about the 
things of time, let Jerusalem — let Heaven, the better 
country, the rest that remaineth for the people of God — 
come into your mind as a thought welcomed ; a thought 
breaking the train of earthly thought, forcing or rather 
enticing the soul away from earthly solicitudes : a blessed 
interruption to the schemes that occupy the brain, and 
the anxieties that burthen the heart. Let it come, as the 
thought of home comes, to visit and refresh the soul of 
one who is a stranger in a strange land, or of one who, 
but a little way from his loved abode, is at his work-day 
task until the evening hour. Let it be so with you, that 
like a gleam of Heaven's own glory, the thought of Heaven 
shall shine into your mind, casting upon the humblest 
and dullest of your earthly pre-occupations a cheerful 



182 



SERMONS. 



light, and enabling you to pursue your present duty more 
bravely, more hopefully. 

Secondly, as a thought cherished. The Jews, when 
carried away in captivity to Babylon, were commanded 
to make the best of their condition, and instead of sink- 
ing into despair and apathy, to engage in manful efforts 
to bear up under their heavy lot. We are apt to picture 
them always as they are represented in the One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-seventh Psalm : " By the rivers of Baby- 
lon, there we sat down ; yea, we wept, when we remem- 
bered Zion : we hanged our harps upon the willows." 
Doubtless, they had many such moments of dejection and 
sorrow ; but their captivity was to be spent in a very 
different way from this. Thus saith the Lord : " Build ye 
houses, and dwell in them ; and plant gardens, and eat 
the fruit of them. And seek the peace of the city whither 
I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray 
unto the Lord for it ; for in the peace thereof shall ye 
have peace." Now, in the midst of these employments, 
the thought of Jerusalem was to be welcomed ; and in 
order to be welcomed, it was to be cherished. How dear 
to those captive exiles must the hours of the Sabbath 
have been, when, if permitted by their heathen masters, 
they could give up the whole sacred time to duties that 
carried them in recollection and in desire to Zion, the 
city of their holy solemnities ; or when, even in the midst 
of compelled labors, they could dwell in imagination and 
in prayerful longings upon the themes they loved ! How 
sweet to them must have been the moments which they 
could daily snatch from toil, and spend in reading or in 
calling to mind the Law — the little which they possessed, 
comparatively, of the Bible, yet so unspeakably precious 
to them, as the Word of their King and God, as the stat- 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 



133 



utes and the ordinances of their native land ! Many be- 
lieve that the One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm was 
written during the Babylonish captivity, and that it ex- 
presses the affection, strengthened by the very trials of 
exile and slavery, which the Jews entertained for God's 
holy Word while far from Jerusalem. But whether writ- 
ten then or earlier, the sentiments of that psalm were in 
their hearts. And as they sang of the excellence of the 
Bible, they thought of Jerusalem. They cherished the 
remembrance of the worship, the fellowships, the holy 
joys they had once shared in the city of their God. 

My brethren, we have the means of keeping in mind 
the thought of Heaven : and it is for our happiness and 
our growth in grace that we make good use of them. Let 
Jerusalem, the home above, come into your minds, and 
be held therein loving contemplation, on this blessed day 
of the Sabbath. It is a day given us expressly to fore- 
shadow the rest that remaineth for the people of God. 
And all the influences of the Sabbath are influences fitted 
to train our thoughts and affections upward to that world 
on high. Properly to observe the Sabbath, is to be pre- 
paring for Heaven. If, like John, we are in the Spirit on 
the Lord's day, we shall be like him, in sympathy with 
the things above — with the glorious objects and the holy 
beings in the heavenly world ; and we shall be getting 
ready, not for the privilege of seeing these things as he 
did when in the isle called Patmos, in a vision, but to go 
and dwell in the midst of them, and possess the reality 
of all that glory and gladness forevermore. Can we af- 
ford to lose any part of the blessing that is provided for 
us in the Sabbath ? Do we not need to cherish its hal- 
lowingand peace-giving influences, to the utmost ? There 
are some who seem to think it enough to spend the hour 



SERMONS. 



or the hour and a half occupied by the morning services 
of the Lord's day, in the house of God. Is this wise, 
brethren? Are you sorely beset and burthened by the 
affairs of daily life through the week ; and do you not all 
the more require to have your souls brought in contact 
with God's truth, through that ministration of His word 
which He has appointed, that they may be refreshed and 
stimulated and quickened by prayer and praise and the 
preaching of the Gospel ? For my own part, there is no 
portion of the Lord's day that seems to me so redolent 
of Heaven, as the hour toward the setting of the sun, 
when we meet once more in these courts of the sanctu- 
ary ; once more to think and hear of sacred things, and 
to look out from the closing services of the day's worship, 
into the coming and closing hours of life's toilsome day ; 
and to lift up the prayer that its departing ray may — 

" Be calm, as this impressive hour, 
And lead to endless day." 

Let the thought of Heaven and heavenly things be 
cherished. Not only welcomed, as it shall intrude upon 
the mind, even in the multitude of the thoughts within 
us that relate to earthly interests, but cherished, enter- 
tained, during the sacred hours that may be wholly 
taken from the world and given to holy things. 

Thirdly, as a restraining thought. The Jews, during 
their captivity, lived in a land far more wealthy than 
their own ; amidst a population that vastly outnumbered 
that of Judea, and whose great city Babylon surpassed all 
other cities in magnificence and power. In that country 
they enjoyed a considerable measure of outward prosper- 
ity. Though captives, they were not held as slaves, but 
rather, it would seem, as colonists. Opportunities of 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 



185 



growing rich and of rising to positions of influence and 
distinction were theirs. Not only could they, as we have 
seen, build houses and plant gardens and live in ease and 
comfort, though exiles in a heathen land, but some of 
them — like Daniel, and at a latter day Ezra, Mordecai, 
and Nehemiah — became eminent as statesmen, admitted 
to the confidence of kings and princes. Such prosperity 
must have had its dangers. What was there to prevent 
these Jews from becoming entirely assimilated to the 
heathen ; from losing their national character, and set- 
tling down into a permanent, contented state of subjection 
to the laws and customs of Babylon ? But the word of 
the Lord came to them, saying: " Ye that have escaped 
the sword .... remember the Lord afar off, and 
let Jerusalem come into your mind." " Ever count your- 
selves as strangers and sojourners in that foreign land. 
Be ready at the appointed time to leave all that you have 
there, and come away. Remember your God, and let 
Jerusalem come into your mind." It was a restraining 
thought. Why should they bestow excessive and ab- 
sorbing care upon interests from which in a little while 
they shall be called to detach themselves? Why should 
they greatly grieve if things should not go so well with 
them as with some of their brethren ; if, unlike Daniel 
and his three companions at court, they should lead ob- 
scure and unadventurous lives, meeting with little suc- 
cess in worldly fortunes, and experiencing many rebuffs 
and defeats? Soon they will all be on their way home ; 
home to the city they love; no more strangers and 
foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the 
household of God. So the Christian. The thought of 
his heavenly home, his better country, should be with 
him as a restraining thought. It is a thought of great 



SERMONS. 



power to check him in the feverish pursuit of worldly- 
good ; to hold him back from scenes and courses of action 
that are out of keeping with his hopes and prospects as a 
citizen of Heaven ; to call him away from the perilous 
entanglements of a life of pleasure. Let a man try to 
keep fresh in his mind every day, by means of prayer 
and Bible truth, and sober reflection, thoughts like these : 
" I am a member of God's family and kingdom ; my 
citizenship is in Heaven ; what I value most awaits 
me there ; I am living, not endlessly to enjoy these 
earthly blessings, but in preparation for my removal to 
yonder holy and happy place ; my name is written among 
its inhabitants ; I must walk worthy of the vocation 
wherewith I am called ; to-morrow I may be summoned 
to join the company of those who walk with Christ in 
white " ; and he will be safe. We read of Daniel that in 
the house where he dwelt in Babylon he had a room 
whose windows looked out toward Jerusalem, where 
three times a day he kneeled and prayed. A Christian 
may be lifted up into a position surrounded with great 
dangers to the soul ; where many before him have been 
spoiled by flattery, ambition and, pride. But if accustomed 
day by day to turn his thoughts heavenward, and engage 
in communion with the things unseen, he will be preserved 
steadfast in his faith and hope. 

Again, as a comforting thought, Jerusalem came into 
the mind of the exiled Hebrew with sadness, because the 
city lay desolate ; but yet with comfort, for the promise 
of the Lord was sure, that her walls should be built again. 
And when the seventy years of their captivity should be 
ended, the people would return ; the former glories of 
Zion should be renewed ; and there generations yet un- 
born should meet for joyful worship. Nothing of sadness 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 



137 



can mingle now with the believer's thoughts of his eter- 
nal home. He is looking for a city which hath founda- 
tions, whose Builder and Maker is God. There is nothing 
but comfort — unspeakable comfort — in his imaginings, 
faint and defective as they must needs be, of the heavenly 
rest, of the holiness, the peace, the communion, the glori- 
ous activity of Heaven. The trouble is, brethren, that 
we so little seek to avail ourselves of this blessed source 
of consolation. We do not let it in, as a vast flood of 
light, upon the soul. It is too much with us in respect 
to the spiritual as in respect to the visible heavens. How 
little do we enjoy the beauty that God has spread over 
our dwellings, over city and country, in the skies above . r 
How seldom do men look up and see and delight in those 
glories of the firmament that so fitly represent, in their 
purity and splendor and measureless depth, the world 
unseen ! Oh, if the child of God would live here in more 
habitual contemplation of his eternal home, how constant 
and how full would be his peace ! Let us remember how 
the Saviour has presented this thought to us as the chief 
element of consolation for His people: " Fear not, little 
flock: it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
kingdom." And again : " Let not your heart be troubled ; 
in my Father's house are many mansions." O brethren, 
that in every hour of care and of sorrow we might 
think of that heavenly home, its purity, its rest, its joy ! 
Are we grieving under earthly losses ? What a glorious 
compensation for them is at hand, in the meetings never 
more to part, in the holy and happy societies of the re- 
deemed ; best of all, in going to be with Christ ! During 
the long captivity of the Jews in Babylon, most of those 
who had come out from the Holy Land must have died ; 
and at length but few could have been remaining who- 



188 



SERMONS. 



had ever seen Jerusalem, and to whom the thought was 
a personal and definite recollection. To the rest it was 
an object of faith and not of sight. They believed in 
that city which they had never seen. They loved it, 
though they had never looked even on its ruins, much 
less on its former glories. Brethren, it is the same, and 
yet how different with us ! Our Christian friends who 
have left us have gone to be with Christ. Instead of 
carrying away with them all the evidence that we pos- 
sessed regarding that Jerusalem which they loved, they 
have gone to dwell there, to inhabit that blessed place, 
and to make it more real to us, and more truly ours. 
The number of our friends that have seen the holy city, 
instead of becoming less and less, is growing more and 
more. With many of us it is fast coming to be true that 
we have more in Heaven than on earth of those endeared 
to us by strong and sacred ties of affection. There is 
comfort for the Christian in the thought. Let Jerusalem 
come into your mind as a home which Christ is preparing 
for you by enriching it with the presence of many who 
will be there to greet you ; a home where Jesus Himself 
awaits your coming : and where seeing Him and so many 
loved ones who are already with Him, you will instantly 
feel at home. 

But again, we need this thought just as much as a 
quickening, inspiring one, to urge us on in duty ; to stim- 
ulate us to active effort. Men labor very willingly for a 
few years, with the expectation of securing a competency 
for themselves and their families, and then leaving off 
their arduous toil, to enjoy ease and rest. But perhaps 
the best work a man can do is done when a man is actu- 
ated by some high and noble purpose to accomplish a 
great mission of usefulness to his fellow-men, and at the 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 1 89 

same time is placed by the kindness of others in a posi- 
tion to pursue that work without any necessity to make 
provision for future days. A benefactor has said to him, 
Dismiss every anxiety about the future ; I will see to it 
that you and your children shall not come to want. Give 
yourself wholly to your work. Fulfil the lofty mission to 
which you feel yourself called, without a fretting care as 
to the days to come — the time when your strength shall 
fail, and your few resources shall be exhausted. Breth- 
ren, he who sets out to live for the glory of God has a 
promise more precious than this. He is made sure of an 
inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away. How it may be with him during the last years of 
life — the years of feebleness and dependence, he may not 
certainly know ; he can trust God for that. But he does 
know that for the endless ages of eternity He has secured 
to him a glorious home, revenues of inexhaustible happi- 
ness, associations most congenial and blessed, employ- 
ments unspeakably delightful and exalting. Let this 
come into his mind, to quicken him in his service for Je- 
sus now. O believer, you are lifted up by God's prom- 
ise into a privilege of perfect freedom from all uneasiness 
with reference to the long ages of eternity ! " To them 
who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory 
and honor and immortality, eternal life." God has said 
it. Cherish this thought while you work for Jesus. Do 
not begrudge the labors you can perform or the sacrifices 
you can make for His cause. Do not ask release from 
them that you may take your ease in this life, and spare 
yourself further fatigues and self-denials because you 
have done something for the Master heretofore. Rejoice 
to think that you have Heaven for the place and eternity 
for the season of your rest from all that is wearisome in 



SERMONS. 



the labors of earth. Let the thought quicken you to dili- 
gence. Let it spur you on to more earnest effort. Your 
rest is not here. But your opportunity for serving 
Christ and blessing men is here. 

Once more — as a solemnizing thought. Let Jerusa- 
lem come into your mind, to influence you in your esti- 
mate of every thing that surrounds you now ; to affect 
your judgment, and your decisions as to all present inter- 
ests and relations. With Zion in his memory and in his 
heart, how would the captive Israelite look on all the 
pomp and glory of that kingdom where he was spending 
the years of his exile ? How would he watch the passage 
of those years ? Time, to him, was the measuring out of 
the season of his sojourn there, till the expected end and 
the journey home. Business, the building of houses, and 
planting of gardens, and management of property, was 
but the temporary occupation that was to fill up those 
years of waiting, until the real and all-important occupa- 
tions of a settled life should begin, in that country that 
was very far off, yet ever remembered and longed for. 
The pleasures of sin, the rewards of wickedness, the things 
that would tempt the exile to deny his God and renounce 
his country, — in view of all these, the captive could say : 
"" If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget 
her cunning; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue 
cleave to the roof of my mouth." We need this thought, 
to make us sober amid the frivolities, and calm amid the 
agitations of a life on earth. We need it, to moderate 
our desires for earthly good, and to bring us into growing 
sympathy with the great realities of the world to which 
we are hastening. This is no feeling of dread, no feeling 
of gloom ; but it is a serious impression of the importance 
of the life to come ; of its surpassing importance as com- 



JERUSALEM REMEMBERED. 



I 9 I 



pared with this life ; and of the need of preparation to 
enter upon it. 

Let me then in closing urge you who have the hope of 
Heaven in your hearts, to make more of the thought of 
Heaven. O let it in daily, as an enlightening and cheer- 
ing ray from that world of light. Use the means unspar- 
ingly to cultivate this blessed impression. Prize the 
hourly and daily opportunities that are yours, to deepen 
this thought in the soul. Prize the Sabbath ; the serv- 
ices of the Church ; the preaching of the Gospel ; the sac- 
raments, that are fitted to bring it to mind. Store the 
memory with sacred Scripture and sacred song, so full of 
the thought of Heaven. Profit by seasons of affliction 
and times of religious interest, when Heaven seems very 
near to the soul. And live a life in tune with this 
thought ; in keeping with this blessed hope. 

And if any one here is a stranger to this hope, and un- 
familiar with this thought of Jerusalem, the home above, 
purchased by Jesus for all that will believe on Him and 
be saved, let me beseech him to admit it. Admit into 
your heart, dear hearer, the Holy Spirit of God, who 
will bring to you this blessed hope, this glad and elevat- 
ing thought. You need, just as much as the Christian 
needs, all that it can do for you. You need to welcome 
and to cherish the thought of a heavenly home as a re- 
straining, comforting, inspiring, sobering thought. You 
have often, doubtless, felt what the poet expresses : the 
conviction that it is not wise to live so much as you do, 
in view of the things of time alone. 

" The world is too much with us ; late and soon, 
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers ; 
Little we see in nature that is ours : 
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon. 



192 



SERMONS. 



This sea, that bares her bosom to the moon, 
The winds, that will be howling at all hours, 
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers, 

For this, for every thing, we are out of tune : 

It moves us not." 

And oh, how much more out of sympathy with the 
things of the unseen world ; how little affected by them* 
and how unprepared for them ! And, nevertheless, you 
are hastening to meet them. The thought of them 
might be to you now a precious support ; might be to 
you in the hour of death a sure and steadfast hope. Oh, 
let this thought come into your mind ! Accept Jesus for 
your Saviour. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
this day salvation shall come to you. 



IX. 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 

Joshua xi. 23. 

4 ' So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto 

Moses." 

Joshua xiii. I. 

" And the Lord said unto him, There remaineth yet very much land to be 

possessed." 

[This was Dr. Baird's last Lord's Day morning discourse, preached at 
Rye, January 30, 1887.] 

Both of these statements occur in the account of the 
conquest of Canaan. That conquest was now, in a cer- 
tain sense, complete. The territory on either side of the 
river Jordan, assigned to the Israelites for their inheri- 
tance, had been wrested from the hands of the heathen 
who occupied it. On the east side of the river, the work 
was achieved by Moses shortly before his death. The 
kings of Heshbon and Bashan were defeated, and the 
region afterwards given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, 
and a part of the tribe of Manasseh, was taken previous 
to the passing of the people over Jordan. On the west 
side, the work was accomplished later under Joshua. 
The strong cities of Jericho and Ai were captured, and 
the inhabitants of Gibeon, another important town, sub- 

193 



i 9 4 



SERMONS. 



mitted of their own accord to the invaders. Two battles, 
each of them decisive in its way, followed up these suc- 
cesses. In the battle of Beth-horon, the kings of South- 
ern Palestine were defeated ; and the victory gained on 
that occasion secured to the Israelites one half of the 
country promised them. In the battle of Merom, far up 
in the northern extremity of the land, the remaining 
forces of the Canaanite nations were met and vanquished, 
so that now the whole district, as described before and 
to Moses, in the words of God recorded in the thirty- 
fourth chapter of Numbers — the land bounded on the 
north by the mountains of Lebanon, on the west by the 
great sea, on the south by the land of Edom, and on the 
east by the territory already in the possession of the tribes 
that had settled on the other side of the Jordan — was 
subject to the conquering race. "So Joshua took the 
whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto 
Moses." 

It is in close connection with these words, which form 
the first part of our text, that we find the other state- 
ment which we have coupled with it. The two passages 
are separated, it is true, by an entire chapter ; but you 
will notice that the intervening chapter consists of a re- 
capitulation of the victories gained by the children of 
Israel in the course of the conquest of Canaan. Having 
ended the list, the sacred historian resumes the thread of 
his account in the first verse of the thirteenth chapter : 
"Now Joshua was old, and stricken in years; and the 
Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, 
and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." 
Thus we have, side by side as it were, two very different, 
if not contrary declarations : the one, affirming the com- 
pleteness of the conquest ; the other, representing it as 



THE COXQUEST OF CANAAN. 



195 



very far from complete. The promise made to Moses, 
that the people of God should acquire the whole land of 
which He had spoken to their fathers, was at length ful- 
filled ; yet there were portions of that land, their title to 
which was contested, and over which their power did not 
extend. "So Joshua took the whole land, according to 
all that the Lord said unto Moses. And the Lord said 
unto him, There remaineth yet very much land to be 
possessed." 

An easy mode of reconciling these two statements may 
perhaps occur to the Bible reader. Though the Israel- 
ites were now masters of Palestine, they had hardly begun 
to occupy this new domain. The situation in this respect 
resembled that of the early settlers of our own country. 
The land was theirs; yet for generations the tenure by 
which they held it was scarcely more than nominal. A 
continent awaited the advance of the superior race, be- 
fore whom the savage tenants of the wilderness receded ; 
but the sparse population made slow progress in the 
work of subduing and replenishing the earth : and at the 
end of two centuries after the landing of the pilgrims, it 
might be said of the country which they had obtained for 
an inheritance, There remaineth yet very much land to 
be possessed — that is, to be taken up. So with Palestine 
in the days of Joshua. The country was still unoccupied 
and unimproved. The task of dividing it among the 
tribes of Israel, and defining the limits of each inheri- 
tance, had not even been begun. In fact, this was the 
duty that Joshua was now called to undertake without 
delay, inasmuch as he was far advanced in years, and 
might die without accomplishing the difficult and deli- 
cate work of distributing the land among the tribes. And 
we find that the rest of this book is devoted chiefly to an 



196 



SERMONS. 



account of this distribution, each tribe obtaining by lot 
a portion of the land, corresponding in situation and char- 
acter with the predictions of the patriarch Jacob and of 
their leader Moses. 

But we have only to read on a little further in this 
thirteenth chapter of Joshua, and we shall see that the 
text refers, not to the fact that the territory taken from 
the conquered nations of Canaan was still unoccupied by 
the Israelites, but to the fact that there were consider- 
able portions of the land that were still held by heathen 
as yet unconquered. "This is the land that yet remain- 
eth," the account proceeds, "all the borders of the Phil- 
istines, and all Geshuri, from Sihor, which is before 
Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron ; from the south, 
all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside 
the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amor- 
ites." Along the sea-coast, the cities of Philistia, in the 
southwest ; and the cities of Phoenicia, in the northwest ; 
had not submitted to the armies of Israel. The moun- 
tain fastness of Jebus, or Jerusalem, in the very heart of 
the country, was untaken. Farther to the north, certain 
towns that lay within the territory that was to be 
assigned to Manasseh, held out against the Israelites ; 
and in the extreme north, the little principality of Geshur, 
within the borders of the same tribe, resisted the invader. 
It was with reference to such places as these, compre- 
hended in the country which God had promised to give 
His people, but still unconquered, that the statement 
was made : " There remaineth yet very much land to be 
possessed." In one sense, the possession was complete ; 
Palestine, as a whole, was now the inheritance of God's 
people. Israel had undisputed sway. Not an arm was 
lifted against the people of God. In all that region 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 



197 



there was none to molest them or make them afraid. 
The combined forces that once ruled it, and that met 
the Israelites with fierce resolution when they entered it, 
had been thoroughly broken and dissipated ; and there 
was no fear that they would ever gather for another on- 
set. The land in its length and breadth was theirs. Yet 
here and there, upon closer examination, there might be 
found an exception to this general statement. Shut up 
in his fenced city, or intrenched amid the rocks of some 
wilderness retreat, a heathen chieftain maintained an ob- 
scure and sullen independence. " The Canaanite was 
still in the land." To their present mortification, and to 
their future inconvenience and loss, the people of God 
must realize that there remained very much land to be 
possessed. 

Let us see now, my friends, what bearing the twofold 
statement of our text may be said to have upon the 
Christian life. For the Bible clearly warrants us in 
searching the history of God's ancient people, the Jews, 
to find illustrations of duty under the Gospel. "All 
these things," we are told, " happened unto them for en- 
samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon 
whom the ends of the world are come " ; for us, that is, 
who live under another and a closing dispensation. And 
I think we can readily perceive the applicability of the 
statement before us to the Christian life, in at least 
three respects. First, in the Difficulty presented ; sec- 
ondly, in the Explanation of that difficulty; and, thirdly, 
in the Duty to be inferred. 

The Difficulty presented in the statement concerning 
Canaan, that Joshua took the whole land, as God had 
said he should do, and that notwithstanding there re- 
mained from the first very much land to be possessed, 



SERMONS. 



has its counterpart, surely, in this fact concerning the 
Christian life, that the Christian has become, in body, 
soul, and spirit, the property of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and that nevertheless so much needs to be done in order 
to bring him entirely under the dominion of his Saviour. 
Here are two propositions, neither one of which will be 
questioned for a moment. As to the former, it is written 
out in clear characters on the pages of the Gospel, and in 
characters equally clear on the tablets of the renewed 
heart. Christians are the property of Christ. He gave 
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all in- 
iquity. " Thou shalt call His name Jesus," said the angel 
of the annunciation, " for He shall save His people from 
their sins." Joshua was a type of Christ, in name, and 
office, and work ; and as Joshua led the people into the 
land of promise, and conquered their enemies before them, 
and secured to them the whole land for their possession, 
so Jesus, the second Joshua, leads His people towards the 
heavenly Canaan — nay, brings them even now into a pres- 
ent state of salvation, delivers them from their spiritual 
foes, and transforms their entire existence from one of 
bondage to sin into one of blessed freedom and safety, 
and of peace with God. So the Bible represents it. " Ye 
were the servants of sin, but being made free from sin r 
ye became the servants of righteousness." Christians are 
the property of Christ. " Ye are bought with a price." 
Your body and your spirit are His. You have been re- 
deemed by Him ; and to love Him, obey Him, please and 
glorify Him, in all your thoughts and actions, is your rea- 
sonable service. So the Bible declares ; and to these Bi- 
ble sayings the soul that has found its Saviour returns a 
glad assent. It acknowledges, freely acknowledges the 
obligation. Every truly converted man has done this. 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 



I 99 



The invariable language of religious feeling, when love to 
Christ and faith in Christ have sprung up in the soul, has 
been the language of self-surrender, of self-consecration. 
Utterances like those that we often repeat in favorite 
hymns of devotion, breathe in prayer from the lips of one 
who has learned the sweet lesson of trust in a Saviour 
crucified for him : 

" Lord, I am Thine, entirely Thine, 
Purchased and saved by blood divine ! " 

' ' Jesus did it all ! 
All to Him I owe." 

" Here, Lord, I give myself away, 
'T is all that I can do ! " 

And yet, my brethren, what astounding contradictions 
does the Christian life often present to these strong and 
surely sincere professions ! How shall we explain it to 
ourselves, not to speak of others, that at so many points 
this nature of ours, this existence of ours, that we have 
heartily consecrated to Christ, is seen to be so little un- 
der the controlling and sanctifying power of Christ ? 
What a humiliating surprise to discover, in some experi- 
ence that gives opportunity for latent qualities to display 
themselves, in some moment when an unexpected light 
flashes upon the character, that here, selfishness still holds 
its own ; that there, covetousness lurks ; and there, world- 
liness continues undestroyed ! What does it mean, when 
one who proclaims, " All to Christ I owe," satisfies con- 
science by casting the merest pittance into the Lord's 
treasury ; when one who trusts that he is " purchased and 
saved by blood divine," shows, through daily infirmities 
of temper, that the grace of God has not yet developed 



200 



SERMONS. 



in him a Christlike patience and gentleness ; or one, who 
thankfully recalls the time when he made " a full sur- 
render " of " every power and thought " to his Redeemer, 
cannot be persuaded to speak a word for the Master, or 
to engage in any of the various works of usefulness that 
need his help ? Here, certainly, is a difficulty presented 
not unlike that which we observe in the history of the 
conquest of Canaan. 

The Explanation of the difficulty will be found, in both 
cases, in the neglect of means and opportunities. Had 
the Israelites followed up the enterprise before them with 
the vigor that they displayed in its earlier stages, they 
would have swept every trace of heathenism and every 
show of opposition from the land. The cities of the 
Philistines would have fallen before them as Jericho and 
Ai fell ; and the idolatrous Phoenicians would not have 
remained, to be as thorns in their sides, and to ensnare 
them into the worship of false gods. The whole land 
was theirs, to be possessed. They had the promise of di- 
vine help and blessing, but that promise was conditioned 
on their faithfulness and obedience to the Lord. So the 
Christian must work out his own salvation, while looking 
to God for grace to will and to do of His good pleasure, 
and relying upon God to crown his efforts with success. 
He has the great encouragement, that in his whole being 
and nature he is a redeemed man. Body, soul, and spirit, 
he belongs to Christ. The sins that remain in his heart 
have no right there. They are aliens and usurpers. The 
entire domain of his affections and capacities has been 
claimed for the empire of holiness ; and by every motive 
of duty and self-interest, by every consideration of pro- 
priety and of justice, he is bound to slay those sins. 
He has had grand opportunities for gaining the victory 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 



201 



over them. The forces of the Holy Spirit of God 
have ever been available in the contest. He had but 
to call in their aid, and these divine auxiliaries were 
ready to strengthen and rescue him. And each victory 
won would have led to new successes. The Christian, 
grappling with his native selfishness, when first in the 
strength of grace he began to fight against indwelling sin, 
would in time have become the large-hearted promoter 
of God's kingdom, finding his delight in doing good, 
and through the discipline of self-denial and self-con- 
secration, perceptibly growing in likeness to his Lord 
and Master. The Christian, manfully striving to over- 
come his native indolence, doing with his might, from 
the onset of his career, what his hand found to do, in his 
Redeemer's service, would have come to be an honored 
instrument for the Master's use ; and those voices of 
timidity and sloth — love of ease and fear of man — that 
once pleaded with him so loudly, and that would have 
pleaded with him so effectually had he listened to them, 
to hold him back from ways of usefulness, would have 
died away. The Christian, deciding early that, whatever 
others might do, he would yield at no point to the en- 
croachments of worldliness, and pursuing a course in 
keeping with that resolution and in keeping with his pro- 
fession as a disciple of the Saviour, would have come in 
time to be a power in the community, stemming in 
some degree the current that is sweeping the young 
toward an entire conformity with the views and practices 
of a pleasure-loving age ; and, at all events, delivering 
his own soul from the fearful responsibility of encoura- 
ging those tendencies toward the pursuit of godless en- 
joyments and displays, against which the Bible sounds its 
warning, and over which every loyal follower of Christ 



202 



SERMONS. 



must mourn in secret. Oh, the neglected opportunities 
that the Christian life presents, to possess every faculty, 
to bring every power and thought into captivity to Jesus ! 
How well they explain the fact that in this being, over 
which Christ has asserted His right to rule, and where, 
indeed, He has been freely chosen and openly proclaimed 
as King and Leader, so much still remains that stands 
opposed to Him ; that does Him no honor ; that cannot 
claim His approval ; that needs to be conquered and 
made subject to His will! 

Notice then, thirdly, the Duty to be learned. Looking 
back over our Christian course ; surveying, each for him- 
self, the record of his experience as a disciple of the Sav- 
iour, are we led to conclude, There remains yet very 
much to be accomplished in me, by God's grace, that I 
may answer to His plan ; that I may be, consciously and 
manifestly, in every faculty and feeling and in every time 
and place, what I profess to be — Christ's servant and 
subject, Christ's faithful witness and trusted friend? 
Then let us consider how the fact thus ascertained should 
affect us. Surely it should produce dissatisfaction with 
ourselves. The first thing necessary in order to any real 
progress is that we should become alive to the truth 
that we are not what we ought to be, and should strive 
to be. " Brethren, cried the apostle Paul, I count not 
myself to have apprehended — to have gained what I am 
striving after, — but I press toward the mark." Many a 
professed follower of Christ is too well satisfied with him- 
self to press toward the mark. He needs, first of all, to 
have this self-satisfaction broken up, and to be made to 
see that there are attainments in knowledge and piety 
and happiness that invite him forward, and that put 
to shame his present low attainments. Doubtless it was 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 



203 



no pleasing and gratifying announcement to the Israelites, 
that after all their marches and counter-marches, their 
skirmishes and hard-fought battles, there remained yet 
very much land to be possessed. True, they must have 
known it ; but perhaps they were so well contented with 
their general success, that they thought it of little con- 
sequence. What matter, if here and there the Canaanite 
dwelt in the land ; if the Philistines held the narrow 
plain along the sea-coast of Judea ; and if in the north 
here and there a heathen town stood out against the 
forces of Israel ? The country, as a whole, was theirs, 
and these enemies could at most offer but a passive re- 
sistance to their arms ; and in all probability they would 
give them little trouble. But read the thirteenth chap- 
ter of Joshua and the first chapter of Judges, and you 
will see that these towns and regions that as yet with- 
stood the Israelites made up in the aggregate a consider- 
able exception to the general conquest and occupation. 
And then read on, through Judges and the books of Sam- 
uel and the Kings, and you will see what formidable ad- 
versaries those despised Philistines came to be in after 
times ; and how in the north, the Phoenician cities which 
the Israelites failed to destroy became the sources of the 
greatest peril and evil to them ; as from Tyre and.Sidon 
the contaminations of idolatry flowed down upon the 
people, and their hearts were drawn away from the living 
and true God. The truth announced to Joshua by the 
Lord was one calculated to produce self-dissatisfaction in 
His mind and in the minds of the people ; and so, my 
friends, if God by His Spirit would make known to us 
our deficiencies as Christians, we should be greatly hum- 
bled. Let us pray that He would do it. For without 
such a feeling there will be no following effort. There 



204 



SERMONS. 



will be no progress to mark this year and make it a year 
of achievements and victories. 

Ask yourself then, dear hearer, in good faith and in 
good earnest, how it is with you. Have you talents over 
which the Lord Jesus Christ exerts no commanding 
power ? Are there interests and occupations of your daily 
life, into which the thought of duty, of responsibility to 
Him, seldom enters ? In the secret chambers of the soul, 
in your musings and imaginings, the plans you form, the 
hopes and desires you cherish, is the grace of God pres- 
ent, to make those thoughts pure, those purposes right in 
His sight, those hopes and desires worthy of one who is 
living chiefly with reference to a life to come? We have 
need to ask ourselves these questions. There are multi- 
tudes of professing Christians whose answer to them, if 
honest, would be a confession that very much in their 
hearts and lives remains to be possessed by the spirit of 
true religion. There are many who, in the ordering of 
their business, in the management of their property, in 
the disposal of their time, in the choice of friends and 
associations, act as though these interests were outlying 
regions, entirely separate from the province of religion ; 
interests in regard to which it is not to be expected that 
they will make them the subjects of prayer, that they will 
seek God's guidance, that they will seek to be influenced 
by high Christian motives. Many professed followers of 
the Saviour seem contented to carry with them through 
life a nature but partially controlled by religious prin- 
ciples. Faults that were conspicuous before conversion, 
are scarcely less conspicuous when years have passed by. 
"The Canaanite is in the land," and no serious effort is 
made to dislodge him. Infirmities of temper remain un 
subdued. The sharp tongue still works mischief. The 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 



205 



proud spirit still asserts itself. Selfishness is still on the 
look-out for an advantage. Vanity still practises little 
and belittling arts. In one way or another, the incom- 
pleteness of the work of sanctification in the heart and 
the life is betrayed, and there seems to be no strong de- 
sire to have it otherwise. No sound of trumpet or clash 
of arms proclaims that the presence of the enemy is rec- 
ognized and dreaded, and that the soul with high resolve 
is engaged in an uncompromising war against sin. The 
Christian is at truce with his foes. 

Dear brethren, in this consideration is there not enough 
to humble us, if indeed this statement holds true in any 
measure of our own experience ? Christ claims my whole 
life and being, as His blood-bought possession. And yet 
— after years, it may be, of professed allegiance and obe- 
dience on my part to Him — there remaineth very much 
of this domain to be possessed. There are portions of it 
in which He is practically disowned. There are aspects 
of it that show little of His presence and His image. 
Much, much still remains to be done in me, for me, and 
by me, before I can know the full blessedness of a thor- 
ough consecration to Christ. 

But there is another duty to be learned in the light of 
the subject before us. From self-dissatisfaction, in view 
of our spiritual deficiencies, we should pass rapidly on to 
determination, strong and hopeful determination, to per- 
form the unfinished work. Here, indeed, the analogy of 
our text fails us, so far at least as Joshua himself was con- 
cerned. As to the people, this declaration that the con- 
quest of Canaan was not yet entirely accomplished, was 
suited to rouse them to effort, as well as to humiliate and 
bring them to repentance. But not so for Joshua. To 
him, the message was a dissuasive one, bidding him to 



206 



SERMONS. 



make haste, in view of his age and infirmities, not to con- 
quer the land that yet remained to be possessed, but to 
apportion it among the tribes, upon the presumption that 
they, after he should have ceased from his labors, would 
complete the work. But as it applies to us, my friends, 
the message means action, earnest and prompt action. 
It bids us up and be doing. Redeem the time. Attempt 
at once this long-neglected duty. Looking for help to 
Him who has promised that He will perfect that which 
concerneth you, hasten to do your part in this great un- 
dertaking of self-conquest and of self-consecration. And 
this call, dear friends, comes with a personal force to every 
one of us. O let us believe it ! The old are not debarred 
or excused from obeying it. If it be true in their case 
that, while much remains to be done, little time is left in 
which to do the work, it is also true that the best use to 
which they can put the remnant of their days is in the 
effort to promote that work. But to the young, this 
teaching of God's Word is addressed with a special force. 
Would that they might heed it ! Would that some one 
at least of you, my young hearers, might lay it to heart, 
and determine this day, by God's help, that you will strive 
in earnest to make the career before you one of growth 
for the soul. Survey the duty, and begin at once to per- 
form it. See how, in the direction of Bible study, there 
remains for you very much to accomplish. Open this sa- 
cred Book, and look through its contents. 

" 'T is a broad land of wealth unknown." 

How little of it you have yet explored ! How slight and 
superficial your acquaintance with its teachings ! Deter- 
mine that, seeking the Holy Spirit's light and guidance, 
you will hereafter devote time and attention, as you have 



THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 



207 



never done before, to the reading and study of this Book 
of books. Again, in the direction of self-conquest and 
self-culture, how much remains to be done ! O begin to- 
day the work of watchfulness and prayer, the hand-to- 
hand fight with the evil within and the evil without, the 
work of denying and withstanding the promptings of a 
sinful heart ! Again, in the cultivation of your Saviour's 
friendship, in the enjoyment of happy communion and 
fellowship with God, how much remains to be sought and 
attained ! Christian, resolve to-day that the companion- 
ship you will seek and prize above all other, shall be that 
of Jesus, your Lord. 



X. 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 

Proverbs xxii. 19. 

" That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, 
even to thee." 

[Preached at Rye, Sunday, December 26, 1886.] 

King Solomon, accounted the wisest of mankind, here 
tells us very briefly what is the lesson that he aims to 
teach. A public speaker will sometimes announce at the 
beginning of his discourse the impression that he desires 
to make. So the inspired author of this book of Proverbs 
does here. Biblical scholars call our attention to the fact 
that the seventeenth verse of this chapter marks a sepa- 
rate division of the book of Proverbs, a section which 
extends to the end of the twenty-fourth chapter. It is 
entitled : " The Words of the Wise"; and our text is a 
statement of the general purpose of this particular part 
of Solomon's teachings. Addressing his hearer — whether 
a real or an imaginary person — as an Eastern sage was 
accustomed to address his pupil, or as a parent might 
address his son, he bids him give the most fixed atten- 
tion to what he is about to say. " Bow down thine ear 
and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart 
unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou wilt 

208 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 



209 



keep them within thee ; they shall withal be fitted in thy 
lips. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made 
known to thee this day, even to thee." 

The book of Proverbs is an exceedingly practical book. 
It does not deal in doctrines so much as in duties. It is 
a book meant especially for the moulding and guidance 
of the young ; and its short, pithy sentences are admira- 
bly fitted to be understood by the young, laid up in 
their memories, and reduced to practice in their lives. 
But even a book so practical cannot separate conduct 
from belief. So in Proverbs, as everywhere else in the 
Bible, we find faith as well as works recommended and 
enforced. What man is to believe, as well as what man 
is to do, must be taught ; and taught over and over, in 
varied and striking ways. And thus even here in the midst 
of the most matter-of-fact instruction, and at the beginning 
of a new series of rules and regulations that bear on the 
conduct — relating to justice between man and man ; dili- 
gence in business ; the control of the appetite ; the train- 
ing of children ; the choice of friendships ; good govern- 
ments ; neighborly offices ; industry and thrift — we have 
the great doctrine presented that shines out in the Old 
Testament and the New ; the doctrine which Abraham 
lived and David sang and Isaiah illuminated ; the doc- 
trine that faith in God is the condition of all good to 
His creatures ; that without faith it is impossible to please 
Him ; that a mortal's trust in his Maker is the essence of 
true religion. The wisest man that ever lived has noth- 
ing better than this to say to you and to me : "That thy 
trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee 
this day, even to thee." 

Now I wish, in connection with this language, to lead 
you to think how God in all His dealings with us His 



2IO 



SERMONS. 



creatures is pressing upon us the fact of our need to have 
an intelligent and a well-established trust in Him. And 
in order that this thought may make upon us the impres- 
sion which it is designed to make, let us notice the two 
singularly emphatic expressions that are used in our text 
for this very purpose. ' The one relates to the time, the 
occasion, the opportunity for the teaching of this truth, 
the other, to the person addressed. The time, this day: 
" I have made known to thee this day." The person to 
whom the teaching is addressed: "To thee, even to 
thee/' Bible time is "■ Now." " Behold, now is the ac- 
cepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." The 
present is all that we can call our own ; the past has fled 
forever, the future we have no assurance of. " To-day," 
God says to us in the Bible, "To-day, if ye will hear My 
voice, harden not your hearts." The day, the hour, the 
minute, when a man is made aware that God waits to 
bless him, is the golden opportunity for him to seek and 
obtain the blessing. I might have taken this verse from 
Proverbs for my text on any Sabbath of the fifty-one 
that have been counted out to us this year, and it would 
have been a word in season, unquestionably appropriate 
to the day on which it would have been spoken ; and if 
heard with an attentive mind and a willing heart, it might 
have led some hearer to determine to put his trust in the 
Lord ; and the happy resolution might have been made 
by some one who had never made it before. 

" Then will I say, My God ! Thy power 
Shall be my fortress and my tower ; 
I, who am formed of feeble dust, 
Make Thine almighty arm my trust." 

But while every Sabbath and every day of every year 
of our lives is a time of opportunity for the soul, surely 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 



211 



the last Sabbath of the year stands out to our view as a 
very special occasion. O that I could make known to 
you this day, dear hearers, how blessed it would be to 
have you trust in the Lord ! I pray you to take in this 
thought : " If there is any real and pressing importance 
in the subject that is being urged upon my consideration, 
it becomes me to consider it seriously, NOW. For cer- 
tainly, in the fading light of this last Sabbath of the year, 
the claims of religion do assert themselves with an un- 
mistakable force, and demand my immediate, my undi- 
vided attention." 

The special interest that belongs to this particular Sab- 
bath, lies partly in the fact that it is a time for review. 
Naturally, and of their own accord, our minds run back 
over the record of the closing year. We remember the 
way by which we have been led, and we remember 
especially the rough places and the strange and sudden 
turns of the way ; the changes, the losses, the sicknesses, 
the seasons of affliction passed through. If we are God's 
children, and have been living in the enjoyment of our 
privileges as God's children, we recall these experiences 
with thankfulness in view of His faithfulness to us in our 
times of need. When trouble came upon us God did not 
forsake. Our necessity was His opportunity. Anxiety 
drove us to Him, and our burden of care was laid down 
at His feet. Sorrow sent us to our place of refuge, and 
well was it for us that we had the Lord for our refuge. 
" The hiding-places of men," one has said, " are discovered 
by affliction. Our refuges are like the nests of birds ; in 
summer they are hidden among the green leaves, but in 
winter they are seen among the naked branches. Un- 
godly men being afraid of God, and feeling that they are 
at enmity with Him, go anywhere else for solace in afflic- 



212 



SERMONS. 



tion. Some turn to worldly business, and buy and sell 
with redoubled activity; some count up the idols that 
remain, and plan new enterprises ; some go into light 
company, read light books, or flutter through the dance 
of light amusements ; some have been known to plunge 
into drunkenness. Troubles drive each one to his refuge ; 
each has his little retreat, his shrine and his idol, which 
he seeks at such times. And the child of God has- 
his refuge, and goes into it. Thou wilt keep him in 
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he 
trusteth in Thee." 

But has it been altogether thus with you ? The year 
has been checkered with trials, if not with great and sore 
troubles. Have you always found it easy and blessed to 
take refuge in God ? Perhaps you did not, in every one of 
these experiences, realize that the lesson to you was a les- 
son of trust in Him ; an invitation to come and find peace 
and strength in communion with Him, and childlike sub- 
mission to His will. Perhaps you were not living near 
enough to God to find it easy to take shelter in His 
presence, and know the blessedness of an humble, peace- 
ful dependence on His faithfulness. But surely, as you 
look back upon the record of these past months, you can 
see that God's dealings with you have been suited to 
teach you this lesson of trust. How often has it proved 
true that he has been better to you than your fears L 
How many anxious thoughts you would have been spared 
if you had simply and quietly confided in His loving 
care ! How often has He seemed to say to you, as the 
cloud of apprehended evil has rolled away : " O thou of 
little faith ! wherefore didst thou doubt? " How easy it 
is to see now that you might have taken your trials dif- 
ferently ; and that if you had done so it would have been 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 



213 



far better for you. It is not only the immediate relief 
that you have missed, relief from the distress and anguish 
of great afflictions, or only from the heaviness and sad- 
ness of the ordinary troubles of life ; but it is the happy 
effect of a discipline that was meant to bring you nearer 
to God ; meant to strengthen you in all goodness, to 
make you patient, and brave, and wise for having better 
learned how to trust Him in the dark and in the storm. 
Surely, as you recall the past, with thankfulness for all 
that you have felt of the safety and satisfaction in relying 
upon the Lord, in taking refuge in His unfailing love, 
with penitent regret that you have been so unfaithful 
and unbelieving, you should take to your heart the 
teaching of experience, the teaching of Providence that 
finds expression in the language of our text : " That thy 
trust may be in the Lord, I have made known unto thee 
this day, even to thee." 

But this day has a special interest, in view of the fact 
that it is a time for anticipation. The mind looks for- 
ward as a new year approaches. It is not more natural 
for us to look back, than to send an inquiring and an 
anxious look toward the things to come. Hope, un- 
certainty, fear, all prompt us to do this. Experience 
itself urges us to forecast the unknown future. It 
reminds us of dangers past, and bids us argue that 
to-morrow will be as yesterday, and that as we enter 
the cloud that overhung the entrance of the year now 
drawing to a close, to meet many unexpected trials, 
so we are advancing to meet much in the new year that 
would disturb and grieve us if it were not mercifully 
hidden from our eyes. The experience of others leads us 
to do this. Many of those who began the year 1886 
with us have found it stored with intense and painful in- 



214 



SERMONS. 



terest. Its course has been marked for them by events 
that have altered the whole tone and current of their 
lives, and they are carrying over into the new year mem- 
ories that make up a sad outfit for a fresh start in their 
pilgrimage. How many, too, who began the year with 
us have fallen by the way ! Some of us think, doubtless, 
that we have never lived through a year that has been so 
crowded with bereavements. So many faces have faded 
out that we shall see no more on earth ! So many 
vacant places are left in our friendships that can never 
be filled this side of the grave ! What has the future in 
keeping for us ! If some keen-sighted sentinel were 
standing within the shadow of that mystery, piercing 
with his gaze the secrets of the coming year, how eagerly 
should we send forth to him the imploring cry : " Watch- 
man, what of the night? " What losses for me? What 
trials that I need to be prepared for? What troubles in 
view of which I need to gird myself with strength and 
fortitude? Is it written for some whom I love, is it 
written for me, in its untold chronicle, " This year thou 
shalt die " ? Dear hearer, an answer comes to your 
hungry heart, an answer not from such a sentinel, able to 
foretell the things to come, but from the sure prophecy 
of God's holy Word : and it says to you : " That thy 
trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee 
this day, even to thee." Ah, it is the only preparation 
we can have for that inscrutable future ; and, thank God 1 
it is an all-sufficient preparation. Faith in God, faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the exceeding good and 
precious promises that assure us of His unchangeable 
love and unfailing care — this is the only possible equip- 
ment for a mortal, as he goes forward into the deep dark- 
ness of the path that opens before his feet ; and it meets 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 



215 



all his need. Dear hearer, do you know what it is "that 
your trust may be in the Lord "? Have you that faith 
that receives and rests upon the Lord Jesus Christ for 
salvation as He is made known to you in the Gospel? 
Can you say : " I know whom I have believed " ; and lit- 
tle as I know of that which is before me, dark and im- 
penetrable as the cloud that hangs over my untried 
journey, solemn as it is to think of the things that lie 
there, whether in this approaching year or in some year 
beyond it, death, judgment, eternity begun, — yet, " know- 
ing whom I have believed, I am persuaded that He is 
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him 
against that day?" If not, come now and put your trust 
in Him. Many a time the invitation has been spoken to 
you, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Let it come 
home to you now, as the last Sabbath of the year closes, 
with a personal and a timely meaning that you have 
never seen in it before. " To thee, this day, even to 
thee," the Bible says : " Let thy trust be in the Lord." 
Jesus says: "Let thy trust be in Me." God's provi- 
dence says to you, as it bids you learn the lessons of ex- 
perience and observation, and see yourself a frail, de- 
fenceless being, needing so much to have the eternal God 
for your refuge: "Let thy trust be in Him." Oh, may 
the prayer of an humble, believing soul be yours this 
day ! " Lord, I come to put my trust in Thee ! " As the 
shades of this Sabbath close around you, say to Jesus: 
" Lord, I believe ! I commit my soul into Thy hands, 
for Thou hast redeemed me. I yield myself to Thy 
care, for Thou hast loved me. Lord, I believe: help 
mine unbelief." 

And what we all need to learn, dear friends, and to 
learn as the special lesson of this hour, is to exercise a 



2l6 



SERMONS. 



stronger and more habitual confidence in our heavenly- 
Father, our blessed Saviour. Faith in God ! it is the 
teaching of the whole Bible ; it is the truth about which 
you hear on every Sabbath : but I think we may learn 
to-day to see it in the setting in which we find it just 
where our text states it, and to see it in the setting in 
which this very day presents it, in a new and instructive 
light. I have called your attention to the fact that our 
text occurs in the midst of a very practical portion of 
Scripture — in the Book of Proverbs ; and in connection 
with a series of rules and regulations that concern our 
ordinary, every-day life. And it seems to me that the 
purpose of God's Holy Spirit in writing these words here 
is to impress upon our minds the duty of carrying this 
great principle of trust in the Lord into all our daily 
affairs. A few centuries ago — shortly after the Reforma- 
tion — it became the custom in Protestant countries to 
place over the doors of houses and in other public places 
inscriptions taken from God's Word, Bible verses, remind- 
ing Christian men of their duty to God and of His pres- 
ence and care in the midst of their daily employments. 
The Bank of England bears such an inscription to-day ; 
but in those times many a lowly habitation and many a 
place of trade was consecrated by some holy truth, suited 
thus to instruct and to comfort : and what is more, the 
merchant was accustomed to write on the title-page 
of his ledger, and on the first line of each page, such 
words as these : " In the name of God " ; " Our help is in 
the name of the Lord." Let us learn from the setting of 
our text, in this Book of Proverbs, where you will find, 
at the head of a series of teachings that relate to very 
homely and practical concerns — money matters, diet, 
good farming, family discipline, respect for parents, kind- 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 



217 



ness to neighbors, obedience to rulers — this great lesson 
of Faith : let us learn the wisdom and blessedness of act- 
ing Faith in God in all our pursuits and in all our inter- 
course with our fellow-men. Let us make it our prayer 
that in the coming year we may live as those who see 
Him who is invisible, and to whom the things unseen are 
real and precious. And then, if some day in this coming 
year the pen or the needle shall drop from the busy 
hand, the business account shall be closed, the place at 
the family meal and the social feast shall be vacated, the 
room in the home shall be darkened, O then it will be 
blessed to die with a trust in the Lord, blessed to be 
remembered as one whose trust was in the Lord ! 
For such a trust is — 

" Chastening to a glorious end, 

'T is pressing towards my bosom friend ; 
'T is meeting Him : come, Jesus, come ; 
'T is folding tent and reaching home. 

" 'T is putting on the garment white, 
Preparing for the blissful sight 
Of that rejoicing, glorious feast, 
Which saints will share, from great to least. 

*' My Father, I must wait on Thee, 
For Faith like this 't was bought for me ; 
Beneath the cross, I seek, I claim, 
Such living faith in Jesus' name." 



LAYS OF THE CROSS. 



219 



I. 

THE DREAM OF PILATE'S WIFE. 

Matt, xxvii. 19. 

" It was not sleep that bound my sight, 
Upon that well-remembered night ; 
It was not fancy's fitful power, 
Beguiled me in that solemn hour : 
But o'er the vision of my soul 
The mystic Future seemed to roll ; 
And in the deep prophetic trance, 
Revealed its treasures to my glance. 

" Before my wondering eyes there stood 
A vast, a countless multitude ; 
The hoary sire, the prattling child, 
The mother, and the maiden mild, 
The gladsome youth, and man of care — ■ 
All tribes, all ages mingled there ; 
And all, where'er I turned to see, 
In humble silence bent the knee. 

" Still o'er the crowded scene I gazed : 
Against the lurid eastern sky 
I saw the shameful Cross upraised ; 
I saw the sufferer doomed to die. 



221 



:222 



LA YS OF THE CROSS. 



'T was He whom late, with sorrowing mien, 
In Zion's streets I oft had seen ; 
And now, in blood and agony, 
He turned a dying look on me. 

" Then softly from that gathering throng 
Arose the sound of solemn song ; 
And while I caught the swelling lay, 
The myriad voices seemed to say : 

' And we believe in Him that died, 
By Pontius Pilate crucified — 
That He shall come, when time is fled, 
To judge the living and the dead.' 

" I woke : — thou wast not by my side. 
I heard a loud exulting cry ; 
I heard the scornful priests deride, 
The Elders murmur, ' Crucify ! ' 
O Pilate ! hadst thou marked my prayer, 
That guiltless blood to shield and spare, 
That deed of horror would not be 
A stain to thine — a curse to thee ! 

Our scenes of early love are past ; 
Our youthful spring is withered all ; 
Afar from Rome our lot is cast, 
Beneath the sunny skies of Gaul 1 ; 
The thoughts that memory treasures yet 
Of other days, begin to flee ; 
But never shall my heart forget 
The Crucified of Galilee ! " 

1 Pontius Pilate died in exile at Vienne, a small town near Lyons, in 
France. 



II. 



"BEHOLD YOUR KING." 

John xix. 14. 

By the murmuring crowd enticed, 
Pilate leadeth forth the Christ, 
Who, before the judgment-seat 
Stands, His pending doom to meet. 
Still the furious voices cry : 
Crucify Him ! crucify ! 
Pilate saith : Your Christ I bring ; 
Shall I crucify your King? 

By the painful crown of thorns 
That His royal brow adorns, 
By the brittle reed He took 
For a sceptre and a crook, 
By the robe of purple hue, 
By the homage of the Jew, 
'T is a monarch that I bring; 
Rebel men ! behold your King ! 

Soon by wondering worlds confest, 
In majestic splendor drest, 
He shall come to rule and reign, 
With the angels in His train ; 

223 



224 



LAYS OF THE CROSS. 



Clouds of glory for His seat, 
Crowns and sceptres at His feet ; 
Every voice His praise shall sing, 
Every eye behold your King. 

Jesus ! in Thy human shame, 
We have owned Thy kingly claim ; 
We the hidden God have seen 
In the lowly Nazarene. 
So, whene'er the opening skies 
Shall reveal Thee to our eyes, 
All the host of heaven shall sing : 
Faithful souls! behold your King I 



III. 



SIMON OF CYRENE. 

found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name ; him they compelled 
bear His cross." 

Matt, xxvii. 32. 

The paschal moon, with cloudless light, 
Was dawning on my pilgrim way, 
When first from far Cyrene's height 
In Salem's courts I came to pray. 
From glittering spire and gilded dome, 
I caught the bright reflected rays, 
And proudly hailed my fathers' home, 
With grateful vows and songs of praise. 

I climbed along the rocky side, 
But scarce had reached the eastern door, 
When from the portals opening wide 
A noisy crowd began to pour. 
The Roman soldiers led the van ; 
The mob pursued with shout and cry ; 
And in their midst a captive man, 
Led forth a shameful death to die. 

I turned to shun the painful sight : 
But soon their fainting charge to spare, 
225 



226 



LA YS OF THE CROSS. 



The watchful soldiers stopped my flight, 
And forced the prisoner's cross to bear. 
And slowly o'er the dreary road, 
Beneath the strange, disgraceful load, 
I followed with reluctant gait 
That weary pilgrim to His fate. 

Along the plain I saw Him led, 
That sinking form, that drooping head, 
Whose holy eyes seemed still to shine 
With love all human, yet divine ; 
Whose gracious voice, tho' sad and faint, 
Spake words of comfort, not complaint: 

never can my heart forget ! 

1 hear Him still — I see Him yet. 

And in my prospect never dim, 
This rapturous hope unfading lives, 
That I, who bare the Cross for Him, 
Shall wear the heavenly crown He gives : 
That I, who shared His earthly shame, 
His radiant face at last shall see, 
And worship, by a nobler name, 
The Crucified of Galilee ! 



IV. 



THE PEOPLE AT THE CROSS. 

"And the people stood beholding.'' 
Luke xxiii. 35. 

While the beams of day arise 

On the wondrous Sacrifice, 
The dread scene of woe unfolding, 

Whither look those anxious eyes 
As the people stand beholding? 

Onward borne in sad array 

As they crowd the winding way, 

Flocking forth from Zion's city, 
Heard ye not the gazers say 

In the low, deep tones of pity : 

" Man of Sorrows, it is Thou ! 

Thine the sad and blood-stained brow 
Where are love and anguish blended ; 

Man of grief, we know Thee now 
On the tree of death suspended ! " 

Yea, within their crowded street 
They have seen those wayworn feet, 
227 



228 



LAYS OF THE CROSS. 



And those arms their babes enfolding ; 

Now that eye of love they meet, 
As the people stand beholding. 

Wherefore in the twilight dim, 
Stand ye thus afar from Him, 

While the hours of grace are going, 
And from brow and side and limb 

Streams of life and love are flowing ? 

Lamb of God ! so let it be 
That Thy grace may shelter me, 

In that hour my soul upholding 
When all flesh Thy might shall see, 

And the people stand beholding! 



V. 



THE SOLDIERS AT THE CROSS. 

" And sitting down they watched Him there." 
Matt, xxvii. 36. 

What weary work has worn your strength, 

Ye men of sin and war; 
That sitting down ye rest at length, 

Your morning labor o'er: 
And wistfully on Calvary's side 
Ye watch the Cross and Crucified ? 

Your hands have nailed the quivering limb, 
Have pierced the throbbing side ; 

Your lips have cast the taunt on Him 
Who pardoned while He died : 

Then rest you from your toil and care, 

As, sitting down, ye watch Him there. 

Yet bring not ye the sword and spear 

To mock the Prince of Peace, 
Their dread employ, that triumphs here, 

At His behest shall cease. 
And War shall stay her ruthless tide 
To watch the Cross and Crucified. 

229 



230 



LAYS OF THE CROSS. 



But rest you near the Peaceful One, 

Ye men of blood and war; 
'T was fit that such a deed were done 

By hands defiled with gore : 
'T was fit that hearts unused to spare 
Should harden while ye watched Him there. 

Yet Thou ! whose cleansing blood hath grace 

For all that watch and pray, 
Thou couldst not spurn from Thine embrace 

The soul that owned Thy sway : 
When standing near Thy cross amazed 

One trembling soldier saw and praised. 1 

I, too, my Lord, have shared the guilt 
That stained that murderous band ; 

So, near that stream of healing spilt 
By this polluted hand, 

I, too, would cast the arms I bear, 

And worship as I watch Thee there ! 



1 Mark xv. 39. 



VI. 



THE WOMEN AT THE CROSS. 

41 The women that followed Him from Galilee stood beholding.'* 
Luke xxiii. 49. 

The wondering crowds have fled, 
The People, struck with strange dismay, 
Have smote the breast and turned away 

To leave the sacred Dead : 
And none remain to watch save ye 
Who followed Him from Galilee. 

The guards, in silence grim, 
With trembling awe and gaze intent, 
Have looked on Him whose flesh they rent, 

And mourned because of Him : 
And none remain to weep save ye 
Who followed Him from Galilee. 

Ye women, sad and few ! 
I fain, with voice of grief outpoured, 
Would linger near the dying Lord, 

To watch and weep with you : 
But first my daily task must be 
To follow Him from Galilee. 

231 



LAYS OF THE CROSS. 



Along the lengthening way, 
Through paths His wayworn feet have blest, 
This welcome hope shall cheer my breast 

For many a toilsome day: 
That so my pilgrim work shall be 
To follow Him from Galilee. 

And when Thy voice shall raise 
The quickened dead to life and doom ; 
When wondering guards shall burst the tomb, 

And crowds affrighted gaze; 
With these, O Jesus ! number me, 
Who followed first from Galilee. 



VII. 



BEARING THE CROSS. 

I saw the Lord with painful steps and slow 

To Calvary's height His weary course begin ; 

His bending shoulders bore the Cross of sin ; 

His fainting spirit carried all our woe ; 

I saw the priests in cruel triumph go ; 

The careless soldiers hemmed their prisoner in, 

Whose pallid brow, whose visage marred and thin, 

The curious crowds with sorrowing pity know. 

" My suffering Lord ! " with trembling voice I cried, 

When first that wounded form I chanced to see : 

" To me, to me, Thy shameful load confide ; 

Be mine the bliss to bear the Cross for Thee ! " 

" Nay, zealous child," my gracious Lord replied, 

" Bear thou thy cross, and come and follow Me." 



"DOMINE, QUO VADIS?" 

(A legend of the martyrdom of St. Peter.) 

A small church by the Appian Way 

Stands desolate and old, 
And I paused a moment there to-day 

To hear its story told. 

233 



234 



LA YS OF THE CROSS. 



The old church hath a curious name, 

And I asked the sacristan 
What the words were for, that its portal bore, 

When thus the answer ran : 

" It was a time of sword and flame, 

And many a martyr bled ; 
And many that wore the Christian name 

From rack and faggot fled. 
They fled, and was it shame to fly, 

When the Faith had lost its home, 
Nor a shelter found in caves underground 

Where worshipped the saints of Rome ? 

" Forth by the Appian Gate at night 

An old man trembling passed ; 
His hair was white, and his long beard white, 

And his face with fear aghast. 
It was that holy saint of Christ, 

To whom He had left His flock ; 
That head and chief, on whose belief 

He had built as on a rock. 

" He went, for prayers had overborne 

His choice to stay and die ; 
And tender hands of love had shorn 

The martyr's courage high. 
And he whose burning zeal had nerved 

The feeblest for the stake, 
Must yield the crown that was hovering down 

For younger hands to take. 

" So quickly on the old man went, 
And he hastened in his flight ; 



DO MINE, QUO V A DISS 



235 



But why so sudden paused, and bent 

His gaze into the night ? 
A vision through the distance dark, 

A form of light advanced, 
And with steady pace, it neared the place 

Where the saint stood still entranced. 

" The old man knelt, as he had need, 

For he shook that he could not stand : 
But the luminous form came on with speed, 

As if to pass by at his hand. 
1 Oh ! whither goest Thou, my Lord? ' 

He cried with a bitter moan ; 
For he could not brook the sad, stern look 

That was fastened on his own. 

" Then the sweet voice of the Lord arose : 

' I am going to Rome,' it said, 
' To be crucified afresh, for those 

Who have left my Cross, and fled.' 
And the vision died on the thin night-air, 

As the words came soft and calm ; 
And the saint went back to the dungeon and rack, 

And got him his martyr's palm." 

The friars who this tale repeat, 

Will show you to this day 
The impress of those blessed feet, 

Where they trod the Appian Way. 
But more to me these words avouch, 

Than relics for ages adored : 
As I murmur them still, like a charm they thrill, 

" Whither goest Thou, my Lord ? " 



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